PRINCETON,    N,    J. 


Scrtion  ....v/v\.CrSPv>. 
Shelf..  Nwnbei- 


D  NOTES 

I 

3LS. 


DN. 


:ATio]sr, 


DISQUISITIONS    AND  NOTES 


^^C- tN  I  to 


^XPs 


'^soci. 


THE    GOSPELS. 


MATTHEW. 


BT 


JOHN    H.    MORISON 


STfiirti    SSlittion. 


BOSTON: 

AMERICAN  UNITARIAN  ASSOCIATION, 

42  Chauncy  Street. 

1872. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1860,  by 

WALKER,     WISE,     &     CO., 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


CAMBRIDaE'. 
PRESS  OF  JOHN   WILSON   AND  SON. 


PEEFACE. 


The  object  of  this  work  Is  to  assist  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
Gospels.  It  does  not  seek  to  go  beyond  the  authority  of  Jesus. 
It  does  not  undertake  to  show  what  the  Evangelists  ought  to  have 
said,  and  to  force  their  language  into  accordance  with  it.  If  in 
any  case  it  may  seem  to  go  beyond  them,  it  has  been  only  to 
meet  the  honest  sceptic  of  our  day  on  his  own  ground,  and  show 
either  that  he  has  misinterpreted  the  words  and  acts  of  Christ,  or 
that  those  words  and  acts  are  in  accordance  with  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  reason,  which  reach  alike  through  the  realms  of  physical 
and  moral  being.  The  one  all-sufficient  answer  to  the  unbelief 
of  our  age  is  still  the  same  that  Jesus  addressed  to  the  Sadducees, 
who  represented  the  refined  and  philosophical  scepticism  of  his 
day :  "  Ye  do  err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures,  nor  the  power  of 
God."  A  true  understanding  of  the  Scriptures,  with  the  insight 
which  is  gained  from  them  in  the  light  of  the  highest  philosophy 
into  the  ways  and  works  and  character  of  God,  is  the  most  effec- 
tual remedy  for  scepticism,  whether  it  be  a  disease  going  on 
through  moral  infidelity  to  intellectual  unbelief,  or  an  honest 
antagonism  to  doctrines  which  falsely  call  themselves  Christian  or 
Evangelical. 

The  best  antidote  to  scepticism  and  to  a  narrow  religious  dog- 
matism, is  the  same.  Both  believers  and  unbelievers  read  too 
much  about  the  Gospels  in  the  works  of  their  favorite  guides,  and 
study  the  Gospels  themselves  too  little.  We  have  never  known 
a  diligent  and  thorough  study  of  the  New  Testament  to  end 
either  in  bigotry  or  unbelief.  There  is  a  truthfulness  breathing 
through  its  writings  which  cannot  but  affect  the  ingenuous  mind 
that  puts  itself  freely  and  constantly  into  communication  with 


iv  PREFACE. 

them,  and  there  is  a  freedom,  a  breadth  of  moral  purpose,  a 
largeness  of  thought,  a  catholicity  of  sentiment,  about  them, 
which  must  give  something  of  its  own  generous  and  liberal  spirit 
to  those  who  place  themselves  habitually  and  unreservedly  within 
their  influence. 

In  preparing  this  work  I  have  sought  to  avail  myself  of  such 
helps  as  have  been  furnished  by  the  scholarship  of  past  ages ;  to 
take  advantage  of  the  improved  methods  of  investigation  which 
have  been  recently  adopted,  and  to  borrow  liberally  from  the 
varied  stores  of  information  which  have  been  gained  through  the 
enterprise,  the  laborious  researches,  the  intellectual  culture,  and 
the  conscientious  love  of  truth  for  which  many  of  the  Biblical 
scholars  of  our  day  have  been  so  honorably  distinguished.  For 
example,  the  text  which  is  here  followed  in  all  the  variations 
which  are  of  consequence  enough  to  warrant  a  departure  from 
the  reading  in  our  Common  English  Version,  is  Tischendorfs 
Stereotype  Edition  of  the  New  Testament,  published  in  1850. 
This  work,  which,  we  believCj  stands  higher  than  any  other 
edition  of  the  New  Testament  in  the  estimation  of  those  most 
competent  to  judge,  was  prepared  by  a  careful  comparison  of  all 
the  most  ancient  manuscripts  of  the  New  Testament  to  which  the 
editor  could  gain  access.  Many  years  were  spent  upon  it,  and 
no  labor  or  expense  was  spared  which  promised  any  useful 
results.  In  regard  to  the  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  the 
topography  of  Jerusalem  and  its  environs,  so  important  in  order 
to  a  correct  understanding  and  a  vivid  perception  of  many 
incidents  in  our  Saviour's  life,  almost  everything  that  we  know 
with  clearness  and  certainty  has  been  gained  since  Dr.  Robinson 
began  his  Biblical  Researches  in  Palestine,  less  than  thirty  years 
ago.  Within  less  than  forty  years,  since  Winer  first  published 
his  "  Grammar  of  the  New  Testament  Diction"  in  1822,  a  revo- 
lution hardly  less  remarkable  has  taken  place  in  this  department 
of  Biblical  knowledge,  and  commentators  have  been  called  back 
from  their  freaks  of  utter  lawlessness  to  the  orderly  rules  and 
principles  of  grammatical  construction.  It  is  a  matter  of  regret, 
that,  in  the  only  English  version  that  we  have  of  Winer's  Gram- 
mar, the  text,  without  any  notice  of  the  alterations  being  given, 
has  been  tampered  with  and  changed  by  the  translator  for  doc- 
trinal reasons.  But  the  promptness  with  which  this  act  has  been 
exposed  and  rebuked  in  this  country,  not  only  by  the  Christian 


PREFACE.  V 

Examiner,  but  by  the  Bibliotlieca  Sacra,  is  a  cheering  evidence 
of  the  candor  as  well  as  vigilance  which  guards  the  integrity  of 
sacred  learning.  Indeed,  within  the  lifetime  of  the  present  gen- 
eration, a  more  generous  spirit  has  been  infused  into  these 
studies.  They  have  been  taken  out  from  the  darkened  cell  of 
monkish  or  sectarian  exclusiveness,  into  the  light  of  the  world's 
advancing  intelligence.  Critical  works,  like  those  of  Stanley, 
Jowett,  Trench,  and  Alford,  Schleiermacher,  Olshausen,  De 
Wette,  Winer,  and  Meyer,  Stuart,  Norton,  Noyes,  Palfrey,  Fur- 
ness,  Hackett,  and  Nichols,  show  that  the  finest  artistic  taste  and 
moral  sensibilities,  the  severest  inductions  of  logic,  the  nicest  dis- 
criminations of  philological  science,  the  most  scholarly  attainments 
and  accomplishments,  together  with  habits  of  profound  and  origi- 
nal thought,  may  be  worthily  employed  in  throwing  light  on  the 
sacred  writings,  and  in  bringing  out  the  great  and  momentous 
truths  which  they  contain.  This  branch  of  learning  is,  therefore, 
indicating  its  liberal  tendencies,  and  beginning  once  more  to  gain 
a  hearing  from  classes  of  men  who  formerly  looked  upon  it  with 
indifference  or  contempt.  A  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Gospels 
is  found  to  enrich  the  mind  and  enlarge  the  heart.  While  the 
most  effective  means  of  controlling  a  congregation,  in  or  out  of  the 
church,  —  the  arts  of  rhetoric,  and  the  attractive  but  superficial 
attainments  which  go  to  furnish  the  intellectual  wardrobe  of  a 
popular  preacher,  —  tend  towards  bigotry  and  conceit,  the  study 
of  the  Bible,  the  habit  of  throwing  one's  self  into  the  heart  of  one 
after  another  of  its  great  subjects,  with  the  intellectual  helps 
which  are  essential  to  it,  can  hardly  fail  to  quicken  the  intellect, 
refine  the  moral  sentiments,  and  make  one's  sympathies  wider 
and  more  generous.  The  study  of  the  Gospels,  pursued  in  such 
a  spirit,  must  at  least  conduce  to  humility,  and  that  is  closely  allied 
to  charity.  I  think  that  we  may  see  some  evidence  of  this  liber- 
alizing tendency  in  theological  seminaries,  where  the  greatest 
attention  is  paid  to  Biblical  studies,  as  well  as  in  the  tone  of 
works,  hke  the  BIbliotheca  Sacra,  which  treat  such  subjects  most 
thoroughly.  Ecclesiastical  history,  dogmatic  theology,  the  spec- 
ulative doctrines  of  metaphysics  and  of  morals,  may  be  enlisted 
in  the  service  of  a  party ;  but  the  Gospels  more  than  an)i:hlng 
else  refuse  to  be  confined  within  a  sect,  to  sen^e  its  exclusive  pur- 
poses, or  to  do  its  work. 

This  volume  was  begun  more  than  five  years  ago,  at  the  sugges- 


VI  PREFACE. 

tion  of  the  Rev.  Henry  A.  Miles,  D.  D.,  to  meet  what  was  sup- 
posed to  be  a  want  in  this  department  of  religious  instruction. 
In  its  plan  it  differs  materially  from  Livermore'a  Commentary, 
leaving  more  room  for  the  extended  discussion  of  subjects,  and 
following  each  verse  of  the  text  less  closely  in  its  remarks.  If  I 
could  be  sure  that  in  my  Notes  I  have  made  as  faithful  and 
intelligent  a  use  of  the  materials  accessible  to  scholars  now,  as 
Mr.  Livermore  did  of  those  which  were  within  his  reach  in  the 
preparation  of  his  work  twenty  years  ago,  I  should  give  it  to  the 
public  with  comparatively  few  misgivings.  If  this  volume  should 
be  favorably  received,  it  will  probably  be  followed  by  another  on 
the  three  remaining  Gospels,  though  this  forms  a  complete  work  in 
itself  Nearly  all  the  difficult  questions  which  are  likely  to  come 
up  in  Mark  and  Luke  have  been  already  considered.  But  the  Gos- 
pel of  John  will  require  an  extended  preparation,  and,  in  many 
respects,  a  distinct  and  original  mode  of  treatment.  In  the  mean 
time,  and  as  a  most  important  part  of  the  same  series  with  this,  our 
readers  will  be  glad  to  learn  that  a  volume  on  the  other  books  of 
the  New  Testament  may  be  expected  from  the  Kev.  A.  P.  Pea- 
body,  D.  D. 

J.  H.  M. 

Milton,  February  14, 1860. 


CONTENTS. 


FAGB 

Introduction 11 

The  Gospel  according  to  Matthew 31 

CHAPTER   I. 

The  Lineage  or  Genealogy  of  Jesus      ......  33 

Miraculous  Conception 35 

Prediction  of  Christ's  Buth 39 

CHAPTER   II. 

Visit  of  the  Wise  Men,  or  Magi 45 

Murder  of  the  Children  in  Bethlehem 50 

Quotations  from  the  Prophets 52 

CHAPTER   III. 
John  the  Baptist 60 

CHAPTER   IV. 

The  Temptation  in  the  Wilderness ,70 

Makes  his  Home  in  Capernaum 78 

The  Call  of  Simon  Peter  and  Andrew  his  Brother,  and  of  John 
and  his  Brother  James 79 

CHAPTER   V. 

Introduction  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 85 

The  Beatitudes 87 

Fulfilling  the  Law  and  the  Prophets 88 

CHAPTER   VI. 

General  Design 101 

Lord's  Prayer 102 

Perfect  Trust  in  God 107 


Viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Analysis 117 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

Gospel  View  of  Miracles 126 

Healing  tlie  Leper 135 

Healing  the  Centurion's  Servant 141 

Bearing  our  Infinnities 143 

Let  the  Dead  bury  their  Dead 147 

Stilling  the  Tempest     .        .         .         . " 148 

Angelic  Existences  and  Agencies              152 

Evil  and  Disorderly  Spirits           157 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Christ's  Way  of  vievring  Death 174 

CHAPTER    X. 

Directions  to  the  Apostles             183 

The  Coming  of  the  Son  of  Man 186 

Further  Directions  to  the  Apostles 188 

Life  or  Soul 191 

Different  Degrees  of  Reward 193 

CHAPTER    XI. 

John  the  Baptist  and  his  Message 201 

Great  Privileges  unimproved  visited  by  a  heavier  Condemnation  207 

Christ's  Thankfulness,  and  his  Call  to  the  Heavy  Laden          .  208 

CHAPTER    XII. 

Christ's  View  of  the  Sabbath             216 

Hatred  of  the  Pharisees  against  Jesus 219 

Casting  out  Satan  by  Satan 219 

The  Unpardonable  Sin 222 

Further  Remarks  of  Jesus 223 

Jesus  and  his  Mother 224 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

Parables 232 

The  Parable  of  the  Sower 237 

Teaching  in  Parables 238 

The  Tares  and  the  Wheat 240 

The  Wicked  One 245 


CONTENTS.  ix 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

Herod  Antipas ^  .        .  260 

Feeding  the  Five  Thousand 264 

Jesus  walking  on  the  Water 266 

CHAPTER    XV. 

Jesus  and  the  Jewish  Traditions 273 

Fulfihnent  of  Prophecy 274 

The  Syro-Phcenician  Woman 278 

Feeding  the  Four  Thousand 279 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

A  Sign  from  Heaven 288 

On  this  Rock  I  build  my  Church 289 

The  Keys  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 290 

The  Humiliation  and  Sufferings  of  the  Messiah           .         .         .  292 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

The  Transfiguration 305 

The  Coming  of  Elijah       .         .         . 312 

The  Tribute-Money  and  the  Fish 313 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

The  Primitive  Church  of  Christ 320 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

The  Christian  Law  of  Divorce 332 

Christ  Blessing  the  Children 335 

The  Young  Man  who  came  to  Jesus 336 

Hard  for  the  Rich  to  enter  Christ's  Kingdom            .        .        .  338 

Gaining  by  Renouncing 340 

CHAPTER    XX. 

The  Laborers  in  the  Vineyard 348 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

Reckoning  of  Time 361 

Triumphal  Entry  into  Jerusalem 364 

CHAPTER    XXII. 

The  Wedding  Feast 376 

Paying  Tribute  to  Ccesar 377 

The  Resurrection  from  the  Dead •      •  379 

The  Two  Great  Commandments 381 

Christ  the  Son  of  David            382 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 

Christ's  Denunciation  of  the  Pharisees 391 

The  Cumulative  Guilt  of  a  Nation 394 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

Our  Saviour's  Gift  of  Prophecy 401 

The  Coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  Judgment  to  the  Jews       .  407 
The  Coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  Judgment  to  All   .        .        .418 

Conclusion 422 

CHAPTER   XXV. 

Purpose  of  these  Parables 432 

Parable  of  the  Virgins 432 

Parable  of  the  Talents 434 

Parable  of  the  Sheep  and  the  Goats 434 

The  General  Resurrection  and  Day  of  Judgment     .        .        .  437 

CHAP'TER    XXVI. 

The  Supper  at  Bethany.  —  Judas 444 

The  Last  Supper 445 

Warning  Peter  -. 449 

The  Agony  of  Gethsemane 450 

The  Apprehension  of  Jesus 458 

Jesus  taken  before  the  High-Priest 460 

Peter's  Denial 461 

CHAPTER   XXVII. 

Preliminary  Trial  of  Jesus  before  the  Sanhedrim     .        .        .  479 

Repentance  and  Death  of  Judas 480 

Jesus  before  Pilate 481 

The  Crucifixion 483 

Precautions  against  his  Resurrection 488 

CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

The  Gospel  Narratives  of  the  Resuirection       ....  503 

The  Different  Accounts  not  Contradictory  ....  505 

The  Different  Times  of  his  Appearance  ....  508 

Each  Account  Independent  of  the  Rest 511 

The  Resurrection  of  Jesus ^^^ 

The  Formula  of  Baptism 515 

Concluding  Remarks 519 

Index 537 


INTKODUCTION, 


HOW  TO   STUDY  THE  GOSPELS. 

"We  are  more  and  more  convinced  that  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  is  to  be  the  great  source  of  moral  and  religious  in- 
struction and  improvement  to  the  world.  The  writings  of 
the  New  Testament  stand  apart  from  all  others.  No  works 
of  man's  genius  pretend  to  an  equal  fellowship  with  them. 
They  reach  now,  as  they  always  have  done,  above  the  high- 
est thought  and  experience  of  our  race.  As  the  sky  rises 
as  far  above  us  when  we  are  on  the  loftiest  mountain  as 
in  the  lowest  valley,  so  they  rise  as  far  above  the  ideas  and 
civilization  of  the  world  now,  as  they  did  in  the  days  of 
Tiberius  and  Nero.  There  can  hardly  be  a  more  convinc- 
ing proof  of  their  Divine  authority  than  this  ;  we  mean,  in 
the  words  of  a  profound  and  original  thinker.  Dr.  Nichols, 
"  the  Gospel's  sun-like  solitude  in  the  moral  firmament. 
The  vast  space  around  it  is  clear  of  all  light  but  its  own." 

And  this  suggests  a  most  important  principle  of  interpre- 
tation. As  these  writings  rise  above  all  others,  and  shine 
in  a  vast  space  "  clear  of  all  light" but  their  own,"  so  it  must 
be  in  that  light,  more  than  by  any  helps  drawn  from  inferior 
sources,  that  we  are  to  learn  and  to  apply  their  truths.  It  is 
wonderful  how  our  Saviour  imbued  with  the  universality 
of  his  own  mind  every  transient  incident  and  word  into 
which  his  thought  or  life  passed,  so  that  it  has  become,  hke 
himself,  to  us  "  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever." 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

"  The  grass  which  to-day  is  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the 
oven,"  "  the  sower  "  who  "  went  forth  to  sow,"  "  the  fields  " 
"  white  ah-eady  to  harvest,"  "  the  hght  and  gladness  of  the 
marriage  feast "  contrasted  with  "  the  outer  darkness  "  where 
"  shall  be  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth,"  the  "  grain  of 
mustard-seed,"  the  children  at  their  sports  in  the  market- 
place, "  I  was  thirsty  and  ye  gave  me  no  drink,"  his  taking 
little  children  into  his  arms,  his  inspection  of  the  tribute- 
money,  are,  by  means  of  the  virtue  which  went  into  them 
from  him,  taken  up  from  the  sphere  of  limited  and  tran- 
sient expressions  or  incidents,  and  stand  out  forever  as  em- 
blems of  universal  and  undying  truths.  He  who  could 
thus  imbue  the  most  ephemeral  forms  of  speech  with  an 
imperishable  life,  and  who  could  place  a  slight  act  of 
grateful  reverence,  or  a  casual  conversation  with  a  sinful 
woman  by  the  side  of  a  well,  among  the  memorable  events 
in  the  world's  history,  must  have  been  charged  with  life  and 
power  beyond  all  others.  And  his  language,  passing  from 
its  earthly  uses  into  a  medium  for  the  communication  of 
divine  and  heavenly  truths,  and  of  an  influence  more  sub- 
tile and  life-giving  than  any  truths  in  their  naked  presenta- 
tion to  the  intellect,  can  borrow  little  from  subsidiary  illustra- 
tions and  analogies.  We  have  only  to  open  our  souls  to  it, 
as  we  do  our  eyes  to  the  light,  and  it  will  come  in.  If  we 
give  ourselves  up  to  it,  we  shall  not  be  left  in  darkness  or  in 
doubt.  It  speaks  with  its  own  authority,  and  explains  and 
enforces  its  own  decisions.  Often  when  we  try  to  explain 
it,  we  shall  only  turn  the  attention  away  from  it,  or  darken 
and  obscure  it  by  our  words  of  inferior  wisdom.  A  great 
part  of  our  Saviour's  language,  and  most  of  the  lessons 
taught  by  his  life,  are  of  this  character.  He  is  the  one 
Mediator  between  God  and  man,  and  it  is  worse  than  vain 
for  us  to  interpose  ourselves  as  his  interpreters. 

This  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  all  commentaries  are  read 
with  a  sense  of  disappointment.  They  are  expected  to 
throw  new  light  on  the  great  essential  teachings  of  Christ ; 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

and  that  is  what  no  commentators  can  ever  do.  They 
might  as  well  hope  to  throw  new  light  upon  the  sun.  Happy 
are  they  if  they  can  to  some  extent  remove  from  his  teach- 
ings the  obscurations  which  men  have  thrown  over  them. 
They  are  expected  to  give  new  efficacy  to  the  "  virtue  "  that 
goes  out  from  them ;  and  that  they  can  never  do.  We  may 
hope  to  clear  up  some  of  the  obscurities  which  obsolete  cus- 
toms, or  modes  of  speech  foreign  to  our  habits  of  thought, 
have  caused.  We  may  analyze  our  Saviour's  discourses, 
and  show  the  underlying  principles  by  which  the  different 
parts  are  united.  We  may  bring  together  expressions,  such 
as  "  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,"  "  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
man,"  "  the  end  of  the  world,"  which  with  slight  modifica- 
tions are  scattered  through  the  accounts  of  his  ministry,  and, 
by  a  careful  comparison  of  the  different  conditions  and  cir- 
cumstances under  which  they  were  used,  may  detect  the  dif- 
ferences of  meaning  which  were  put  upon  them,  and  the 
central  idea  which  gives  a  unity  to  these  different  meanings. 
We  may  free  some  of  the  fresh  and  beautiful  expressions  of 
Scripture  from  their  subjection  to  the  canting  phraseology 
of  a  formal  piety,  and  some  of  its  sublime  enunciations 
of  truth  from  their  cruel  bondage  to  the  "  decrees  "  of  meta- 
physical speculations  or  ecclesiastical  councils.  We  may 
compare  the  different  narratives  of  the  same  events,  and  by 
combining  them  into  one  may  harmonize  what  to  the  super- 
ficial reader  seem  to  be  contradictions.  We  may  bring  out 
the  relations  of  time  and  space  to  the  Gospel  narratives,  and 
thus  make  the  acts  and  words  of  Jesus  more  consistent  with 
one  another,  and  more  real  to  the  reader.  Above  all,  we 
may  come  back  to  the  simple  and  natural  methods  of  in- 
quiry which  are  employed  in  the  interpretation  of  all  other 
Avritings.  What  Bacon  and  Newton,  and  other  great  philoso- 
phers, have  done  for  the  study  of  the  mind  of  God  in  the 
book  of  nature,  by  breaking  loose  from  arbitrary  and  un- 
natural methods  of  investigation,  and  applying  the  most 
direct  and  simple  processes,  is  what  the  ablest  religious 
2 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

thinkers  and  scholars  must  do,  and  to  some  extent  are  doing, 
for  the  study  of  the  mind  of  God  in  the  volume  of  that  other 
book,  in  which  he  would  reveal  himself  to  us  with  greater 
fulness  and  a  more  affecting  power.  As  what  Bacon  and 
Newton  did  most  of  all  was  to  call  men  back  to  nature  it- 
self, as  it  exists  in  the  world  around  us,  so  what  we  have  to 
do  most  of  all  is  to  call  men  back  to  the  Gospel  itself,  as  it 
lies  before  us,  dimly  prefigured  in  the  Old  Testament,  and 
embodied  in  the  New. 

There  are  two  things  essential  in  order  to  a  right  under- 
standing of  the  Gospels; — 1.  A  fitting  preparation  of  heart; 
and,  2.  A  mind  free  from  all  preconceived  opinions  which 
may  bias  or  mislead  us  in  our  investigations.  The  first  is  a 
moral  and  spiritual  preparation  ;  the  second  is  that,  but  it  is 
also  and  mainly  an  intellectual  preparation. 

1.  There  is  the  fitting  preparation  of  heart.  This  is  what 
our  Saviour  meant  by  the  faith,  which  he  always  regarded 
as  essential  to  salvation.  It  was  not  an  intellectual  belief 
such  as  men  have  made  it  since,  but  a  disposition  of  heart, 
a  readiness  to  receive  and  to  obey  him  in  whatever  he  might 
teach  or  command.  With  this  faith  in  the  heart  showing 
itself  by  obedience  and  fidelity  in  the  life,  our  Christian  con- 
sciousness will  be  enlarged,  and  we  shall  take  in  more  and 
more  of  the  truth.  All  that  is  most  essential  in  the  Gospels 
may  be  received.  Its  holiest  precepts  will  direct  us  in  our 
lives ;  its  richest  promises  will  be  fulfilling  themselves  in 
our  experience.  Its  great  words  of  comfort  and  of  power, 
which  lie  beyond  the  reach  of  criticism  or  commentary,  will 
take  up  their  abode  in  us,  and  become  to  us  spirit  and  life. 
It  is  through  this  preparation  of  heart  that  the  family  Bible 
gains  such  a  hold  on  the  affections,  instils  into  the  soul  its 
divinest  influences,  guides  us  in  our  duties,  and  teaches  us 
how  to  turn  sorrow  and  weariness  and  pain,  and  even  sin 
itself,  into  the  means  of  deliverance  and  triumph.  Thus  it 
is  that  Jesus  introduces  himself  to  us  as  our  Teacher  and 
Saviour.     The  Holy  Spirit  enters  our  souls,  and  renews 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

them  with  a  perpetual  influx  of  hfe.  And  God  reveals  him- 
self to  us  in  whatever  is  great  or  beautiful  in  nature,  in  the 
dear  and  sacred  relations  which  bind  us  to  one  another,  and 
in  all  the  gracious  and  merciful,  though  to  us  often  mys- 
terious and  painful  orderings  of  his  providence.  This  use 
of  the  Bible  —  its  daily  and  familiar  companionship,  its 
confidential  communications  to  us  in  our  retired  moments 
—  is  worth  more  than  all  its  more  elaborate  and  learned 
lessons. 

2.  But  there  is  also  to  be  a  preparation  of  the  intellect, 
and  in  order  to  this,  first  of  all,  we  must  allow  no  precon- 
ceived opinions  to  stand  in  the  way  of  a  perfectly  free  and 
fair  investigation.  "We  must  remember  that,  as  students  of 
the  New  Testament,  one  is  our  Master,  even  Christ,  and  that 
as  no  want  of  faith  can  be  an  excuse  for  setting  aside  any- 
thing that  he  has  taught,  so  neither  should  any  precon- 
ceived opinions  of  ours,  or  creeds  drawn  up  and  estab- 
lished by  human  authority,  stand  as  a  barrier  between  his 
words  and  us.  If  our  views  are  not  broad  enough  to  take 
in  any  doctrine  that  he  has  taught,  then  we  must  make 
them  broad  enough.  There  is  a  freedom,  a  greatness,  not 
merely  an  elevation  but  a  breadth  of  thought,  in  his  instruc- 
tions, strangely  in  contrast  with  the  narrow  and  enslaving 
opinions  which  metaphysical  divines  have  elaborated  "  in 
order  to  satisfy  the  demand  of  unity  in  the  Christian  con- 
sciousness and  in  the  activity  of  the  dialectic  reason,"  or 
which  ambitious  rulers  in  the  Church  have  established  as  an 
engine  of  administrative  authority.  Christ  has  set  our  feet 
in  a  large  place,  and  our  allegiance  to  him  requires  that,  in 
the  study  of  his  words  and  life,  we  should  jealously  assert 
and  exercise  the  liberty  wherewith  he  has  made  us  free. 

A  mournful  spectacle,  in  this  respect,  has  been  presented 
by  the  Christian  world.  Advantage  is  taken  of  the  new 
convert,  in  the  most  impressible  moment  of  life,  when  he  has 
no  time  or  heart  to  examine  for  himself,  when  he  is  rejoicing 
in  the  advent  of  new  hopes  and  a  new  experience,  and  his 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

whole  nature  is  fluent  with  emotion,  —  advantage  is  taken  of 
him,  in  the  unsuspecting  confidence  of  his  first  enthusiasm, 
to  impose  upon  him  the  sectarian  stamp  which  is  to  fix  his 
theological  opinions,  and  be  henceforth  a  bar,  on  the  right 
hand  and  the  left,  in  all  his  Biblical  and  theological  investi- 
gations. Assuming  those  opinions  to  be  true,  he  must  study 
the  Scriptures,  not  as  a  disciple  of  Jesus,  but  as  the  partisan 
of  a  sect.  The  word  of  God  is  in  bondage.  It  can  teach 
only  what  a  human  creed  allows  it  to  teach.  In  this  re- 
spect, the  Church  of  Rome,  if  it  has  a  wider  despotism  than 
all  the  rest,  is  more  consistent  with  itself.  It  does  not  pro- 
fess to  leave  the  people  free  to  read  for  themselves.  It 
claims  for  itself  the  right  and  the  authority  to  be  the  sole 
interpreter  of  the  Scriptures.  But  in  most  of  the  Protes- 
tant denominations,  while  there  is  professedly  the  greatest 
reverence  for  the  Scriptures  and  the  rights  of  the  individual 
reason  and  conscience,  no  man  is  allowed  to  study  the  Scrip- 
tures freely  under  the  guidance  of  his  own  reason  and  con- 
science. If  he  finds  in  them  doctrines  not  in  accordance 
with  "  the  standards "  or  "  articles "  of  his  church,  he  is 
called  to  account.  If  he  continues  so  to  read  the  Scriptures, 
and  see  those  doctrines  there,  he  is  excommunicated,  and 
shut  out  from  the  ordinances  of  his  religion.  —  A  generous 
and  catholic  faith,  which  would  leave  the  Bible  open  to 
all,  that  they  may  read  it  as  they  do  the  book  of  nature, 
in  perfect  freedom,  accountable  only  to  God,  —  this  faith 
in  Christ  and  his  instructions  rather  than  in  man  and  his 
traditions ;  —  if  the  Son  of  man  should  come  now,  would 
he  find  it  on  the  earth? 

Yet  none  the  less  is  it  our  duty  so  to  learn  and  so  to 
speak.  In  all  branches  of  the  Church  we  hear  generous 
voices  from  men  seeking  a  larger  liberty  for  others,  and 
using  it  themselves.  Some,  like  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
without  any  great  amount  of  learning  or  any  remarkable 
fitness  for  critical  studies,  take  up  the  great  truths  of  the 
Gospel  into  their  capacious  souls,  and  speak  them  out  with 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

a  power  that  breaks  through  sectarian  restraints  and  finds 
an  earnest  response  from  thronging  multitudes.  Others,  like 
Dr.  Bushnell,  with  a  riper  scholarship,  finer  powers  of  anal- 
ysis, and  the  same  hearty  devotion  to  Christ,  not  as  he  lies 
bound  up  corpse-like  in  church  creeds,  but  as  he  reveals 
himself  through  the  writings  of  Evangelists  and  Apostles, 
and  to  the  Christian  consciousness  of  each  individual  soul, 
are  preaching  a  more  generous  and  living  Gospel.  Others 
again,  like  Jowett  and  Stanley  and  Williams  and  Archbishop 
Whately,  from  the  great  centres  of  religious  inteUigence  to 
our  Anglo-Saxon  race,  from  Oxford  and  Cambridge  and  the 
metropolis  of  Ireland,  are  using  a  larger  liberty,  and  in  works 
of  Biblical  criticism  or  religious  inquiry  are  giving  to  the 
world  examples  of  a  freer  thought,  and  a  more  faithful 
exposition  of  writings,  which  rise  above  and  pass  beyond  the 
limitations  of  scholastic  theologians  and  sectarian  creeds,  as 
the  heavens,  which  shine  on  all,  rise  above  and  stretch 
beyond  every  earthly  distinction  of  individual  proprietorship 
or  national  domain.  It  is  a  comfort  to  be  able  to  quote  lan- 
guage like  this  from  a  sermon  preached  before  the  Univer- 
sity of  Oxford  by  the  author  of  the  Life  of  Dr.  Arnold: 
"  The  true  creed  of  the  Church,  the  true  Gospel  of  Christ, 
is  to  be  found,  not  in  proportion  as  it  coincides  with  the 
watchwords  or  the  dilemmas  of  modern  controversy,  but 
rather  in  proportion  as  it  rises  above  them,  and  cuts  across 

them The  very  peculiarity,  the  very  proof  of  the 

divinity  of  his   doctrine,  was  that  they  could  not  square  it 

with  any  of  their  existing  systems And  it  is  both  a 

confirmation  and  illustration  of  this  character  of  Evangelical 
doctrine,  that,  if  we  look  into  some  of  the  earthly  repre- 
sentations of  it  which  have  met  with  most  universal  ac- 
ceptance, they  also  share  in  this  freedom  from  the  bonds  in 
which  the  world  is  anxious  to  confine  us."  (Stanley's  Can- 
terbury Sermons,  pp.  113-115.)  There  is  a  healthful  ring 
in  these  words,  which  is  full  of  encouragement  and  hope. 
Not  only  are  we,  in  the  study  of  the  Gospels,  to  beware 

2#  B 


18  INTRODUCTION. 

of  every  human  authority  that  would  interpose  itself  be- 
tween them  and  us,  but  we  must  also  take  heed  to  our- 
selves. We  may  be  as  much  enslaved  to  our  own  way 
of  viewing  things,  or  to  the  personal  feelings  by  which 
we  are  led  in  one  direction  or  another,  as  to  the  estab- 
lished creed  of  a  church.  Whatever  the  motive,  we  must 
be  careful  not  to  twist  and  torture  our  Saviour's  words 
to  bring  them  into  harmony  with  our  ideas.  A  single 
example  will  illustrate  what  we  mean.  A  writer,  speaking 
of  Christ  in  his  mediatorial  humiliation,  says  (Huntington's 
"Christian  Believing  and  Living,"  p.  364):  "Voluntarily,  to 
this  end,  and  for  the  time,  things  which  only  the  Father 
knoweth  are  veiled  from  the  Son,  and  he  says  (in  language 
which  we  have  only  to  suppose  put  into  the  meuth  of  any 
other  being  to  find  it  in  fact  a  proof  of  his  divinity),  '  My 
Father  is  greater  than  I.' "  By  the  divinity  of  Christ  the 
writer  has  just  explained  that  he  means  his  equality  with 
the  Father.  To  say  then,  that  his  declaration,  "  My  Father 
is  greater  than  I,"  is  in  fact  a  proof  of  his  divinity,  that  is,  a 
proof  that  his  Father  is  not  greater  than  he,  is  flatly  to  con- 
tradict the  Saviour.  To  assert  that  we  have  only  to  sup- 
pose this  language  "  put  into  the  mouth  of  any  other  being 
to  find  it  in  fact  a  proof  of  his  divinity ,'*  is  to  assert  that  in 
our  opinion  the  language  of  Jesus,  in  its  simple  and  ob- 
vious meaning,  is  so  extravagant  that  we  can  accept  it  only 
in  a  sense  directly  opposite  to  what  it  says.  Is  this  honor- 
ing Christ  ?  St.  John  (1  John  iii.  20)  uses  a  form  of  ex- 
pression precisely  like  this  of  Jesus,  "  God  is  greater  than 
our  heart."  Is  his  language  therefore  a  proof  of  his  or  of 
our  divinity?  In  Job  xxxiii.  12  we  find  it  asserted,  with  no 
appearance  of  impiety  or  extravagance,  "  that  God  is  great- 
er than  man."  We  are  not  arguing,  or  speaking  even  by 
implication,  against  the  doctrine  in  support  of  which  this 
delaration  of  our  Saviour  is  so  distorted  from  its  plain  and 
natural  meaning.  We  quote  the  passage  simply  as  an  illus- 
tration of  what  seems  to  us  a  vicious,  arbitrary,  and  most 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

dangerous   method   of   interpretation.     Our   reverence   for 
Christ  is  shocked  by  such  a  way  of  dealing  with  his  words. 

We  solemnly  believe  that,  except  from  a  perversion  of  the 
moral  sentiments,  there  is  no  greater  bar  in  the  way  of  a 
true  understanding  and  application  of  the  Gospels,  than  this 
habit  of  forcing  them  into  conformity  with  our  preconceived 
ideas.     We  must  remember  that  they  are  to  guide  us,  and 
not  vfe  them.     If  our  capacity  for  Divine  truth  is  to  be  the 
measure  of  what  we  receive,  it  must  not  be,  even  in  our 
own  minds,  the  measure  of  what  Christ  has  taught,  so  that 
all  his  teachings  must  be  forced  into  conformity  with  it. 
We  must  not  let  the  limitations  of  our  human  thought  turn 
aside  from  its  only  direct  and  natural  meaning  any  clear  and 
explicit  statement  of  his.     If  we  find  ourselves  tempted  to 
do  tliis,  we  may  be  sure  that  there  is  something  wrong,  not 
in  his  instructions,  but  in  our  opinions.     We  are,  then,  with 
all  humility  before  him,  to  re-examine  our  opinions,  and  see 
if  we  cannot  readjust  them  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  them 
harmonize  with  the  text.     A  less  violent  wrench  than  that 
which  is  here  applied  to  the  words  of  Christ  would  probably 
bring  our  views  into  accordance  with  his  words.     But  if  our 
opinions  are  fixed   as  one  of  the  immutable  terms  in  this 
controversy,  then  let  us  remember  that  so  plain  a  declara- 
tion of  his  cannot  be  altered  for  our  accommodation  ;  and, 
without  attempting  to  make  it  mean  precisely  the  opposite 
of  what  it  says,  as  plainly  as  language  can  say  anything,  let 
us   leave  the  two  —  his  assertion  and  our    opinion  —  con- 
fronting one  another,  and  acknowledge   that  it  requires  a 
higher  wisdom  than  ours 'to  bring  them  into  harmony.    But, 
after   all,   as   a  matter  of  interpretation    not   less   than  of 
Christian   faith,   our   human    inference    is    more   likely   to 
be  wrong  than  the  words  of  Christ.     The  opinion  of  over- 
whelming  majorities   in   his    Church  can  have    no  weight 
against   his  decisive  and   unqualified  declaration.      We, — 
all  men,  —  the  doctrine  "  which   always,  everywhere,   and 
by  all  men"    has    been    maintained,   if   any  such    contro- 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

verted  doctrine  can   be   found,  —  may   be   wrong,   but   he 

CANNOT. 

We  must  then  be  on  our  guard  against  this  forced  method 
of  interpretation,  which  has  prevailed  in  past  centuries 
almost  as  extensively  as  forced  methods  of  interpreting  the 
phenomena  of  nature  before  the  time  of  Bacon  and  Galileo, 
and  which  has  its  influence  still,  though  the  ablest  Christian 
scholars  and  thinkers  are  protesting  against  it  more  and 
more.  It  has  its  influence  just  where  it  will  be  most  widely 
disseminated  and  most  fatal.  It  enters  into  the  apparently 
superficial,  but  nevertheless  powerful  and  lasting,  means  of 
religious  education  for  the  young.  The  creed  is  taught 
first,  and  then  the  Bible  in  conformity  with  the  creed.  In 
some  churches,  at  the  end  of  every  chapter  that  is  read,  and 
of  every  Psalm  that  is  rehearsed,  a  doxology,  which  is  in 
fact  a  creed  in  miniature,  is  repeated,  as  if  the  words  of 
Scripture  could  not  be  trusted  without  it.  How  much 
more  in  harmony  with  nature  and  with  truth,  as  well  as 
with  Christ's  method  of  teaching,  is  that  suggested  by  the 
generous  and  manly  Robertson  in  a  Confirmation  Lec- 
ture. "  Let  the  child's  religion,"  he  says,  (Sermons,  1st 
Series,  pp.  73,  74,)  "  be  expansive,  —  capable  of  expan- 
sion, —  as  little  systematic  as  possible ;  let  it  lie  upon  the 
heart  like  the  light,  loose  soil,  which  can  be  broken  through 
as  the  heart  bursts  into  fuller  life.  If  it  be  trodden  down 
hard  and  stiff  in  formularies,  it  is  more  than  probable  that 
the  whole  must  be  burst  through,  and  broken  violently  and 
thrown  off  altogether,  when  the  soul  requires  room  to  germi- 
nate. And  in  this  way,  my  young  brethren,  I  have  tried  to 
deal  with  you.  Not  in  creeds,  nor  even  in  the  stiffness  of 
the  catechism,  has  truth  been  put  before  you.  Rather  has 
it  been  trusted  to  the  impulses  of  the  heart ;  on  which,  we 
believe,  God  works  more  efficaciously  than  we  can  do.  A 
few  simple  truths  :  and  then  these  have  been  left  to  work, 
and  germinate,  and  swell.  Baptism  reveals  to  you  this  truth 
for  the  heart,  that  God  is  your  Father,  and  that  Christ  ha? 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

encouraged  you  to  live  as  your  Father's  children.  It  has 
revealed  that  name  which  Jacob  knew  not,  —  Love.  Con- 
firmation has  told  you  another  truth,  that  of  self-dedication  to 
Him.  Heaven  is  the  service  of  God.  The  highest  blessed- 
ness of  hfe  is  powers  and  self  consecrated  to  His  will.  These 
are  the  germs  of  truth :  but  it  would  have  been  miserable 
self-delusion,  and  most  pernicious  teaching,  to  have  aimed  at 
exhausting  truth,  or  systematizing  it.  We  are  jealous  of 
over-systematic  teaching.  God's  love  to  you,  —  the  sacrifice 
of  your  lives  to  God, — but  the  meaning  of  that  ?  Oh  !  a  long, 
long  life  will  not  exhaust  the  meaning,  —  the  name  of  God. 
Feel  him  more  and  more,  —  all  else  is  but  empty  words." 

In  all  our  studies,  and  especially  in  all  our  religious  teach- 
ings, we  must  leave  room  for  growth,  and  be  more  earnest 
to  implant  the  principles  of  righteous  living,  and  a  reverence 
for  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  than  to  prove  any  doctrines  on 
which  the  Christian  world  is  divided  to  be  true.  And  if  at 
any  time,  we  are  to  hold  our  dogmatic  theology  in  abeyance, 
it  is  when  we  are  engaged  in  interpreting  for  ourselves,  or 
teaching  to  others,  the  words  and  the  acts  of  Christ. 


Perhaps  the  forced  methods  of  interpretation  have  for  no 
single  purpose  been  carried  to  a  more  unwarrantable  extent 
than  in  the  attempts  which  have  been  made  to  produce  a 
literal  conformity  between  different  accounts  of  the  same 
event  by  the  different  New  Testament  writers,  so  as  not  to 
violate  the  doctrine  of  a  plenary  verbal  inspiration.  But 
now  that  doctrine  is  no  longer  held  to  be  respectable  among 
enlightened  Biblical  critics  and  scholars.  Dr.  Cureton,  the 
learned  Canon  of  Westminster,  in  the  preface  to  his  "  Syriac 
Gospels,"  p.  Ixxxix.,  speaks  of  "  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the 
Gospels  "  as  "  a  theory  long  since  abandoned  by  all  scholars 
and  critics,  which,  indeed,  could  only  be  maintained  by  those 
who  are  entirely  ignorant  of  the  way  in  which  the  New 
Testament  has  been  transmitted  to  our  own  times,  and  which, 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

if  persisted  in,  must  involve  very  serious  objections  against 
these  inspired  writings,  and  tend  to  infidelity."  Alford,  in 
the  Prolegomena  to  his  learned  and  valuable  Commentary 
on  the  New  Testament,  thus  speaks  of  the  theory  of  verbal 
inspiration :  "  Much  might  be  said  of  the  a  priori  unworthi- 
ness  of  such  a  theory  as  apphed  to  a  Gospel  whose  character 
is  the  freedom  of  the  spirit,  not  the  bondage  of  the  letter ; 
but  it  belongs  more  to  my  present  work  to  try  it  by  applying 
it  to  the  Gospels  as  we  have  them.  And  I  do  ngt  hesitate 
to  say,  that  being  thus  applied,  its  effect  will  be  to  destroy 

altogether  the  credibility  of  our  Evangelists The 

fact  is,  that  this  theory  uniformly  gives  way  before  intel- 
ligent study  of  the  Scriptures  themselves  ;  and  is  only  held, 
consistently  and  thoroughly,  by  those  who  have  never  un- 
dertaken that  study." 

But  the  same  violence  which  has  been  employed  in  for- 
cing the  language  of  the  Gospels  into  harmony  with  a  creed 
or  an  unnatural  theory  of  inspiration,  has  also  been  used  to 
force  their  statements  into  accordance  with  some  favorite 
theory  of  the  writer.  Thus  Paulus  has  endeavored  to  ex- 
plain the  miracles  of  Christ  in  accordance  with  a  theory 
which  excludes  all  miraculous  influences,  and  according  to 
which  neither  the  ruler  s  daughter  nor  Lazarus  was  actu- 
ally dead.  The  great  value  of  Dr.  Furness's  charming 
writings  on  the  Gospels  is,  we  think,  in  some  cases,  seri- 
ously impaired  by  the  restraint  that  is  put  upon  him,  and 
which  he  imposes  upon  the  accounts  of  the  Evangelists, 
in  consequence  of  his  favorite  theory  in  regard  to  the  man- 
ner in  which  miracles  must  be  wrought. 

The  same  unnatural  perversion  of  the  language  of  the 
Gospels  has  been  effected  by  sceptics  and  unbelievers, 
who  exercise  as  much  ingenuity  in  forcing  the  accounts 
of  the  different  Evangelists  into  a  contradiction,  as  the  old 
commentators  did  in  forcing  them  away  from  it.  They  find 
it  easier  thus  to  discredit  the  authority  of  the  sacred  writ- 
ings altogether,  than  to  explain  them  away  in  such  a  manner 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

as  to  confiim  their  naturalistic  theories.  The  critical  writings 
of  Strauss  and  Baur  are  of  this  sort.  They  begin  with 
theories  about  the  Gospels,  to  which  the  Gospels  themselves 
are  forced  to  submit.  There  is  no  question  in  regard  to  the 
learning,  the  ability,  or  the  consummate  generalship  of  the 
men  who  lead  the  movement  from  within  against  the  authority 
of  the  Gospels.  And  they  have  been  of  immense  service  in 
calling  the  attention  of  sensible  and  educated  men  to  the 
Gospels,  and  inducing  them  to  examine  them  for  themselves, 
not  through  the  perverse  optics  of  these  framers  of  theories, 
but  with  their  own  calm  and  unbiassed  judgment.  This  of 
itself  is  a  great  gain.  All  that  is  needed  in  order  to  estab- 
lish the  truthfulness  of  the  Gospels  is  that  they  should  be 
thus  examined. 

And  here  we  cannot  too  earnestly  urge  the  great  body 
of  intelligent  men  and  women  to  refuse  to  take  any  one's 
theory  about  the  Gospels  without  first  studying,  not  specious 
writings  in  support  of  it,  but  the  Gospels  themselves.  Let 
them  test  every  assumption  of  the  theorist  by  a  careful 
reference  to  the  record,  and  not  admit  this  or  that  assertion 
in  regard  to  what  is  found  in  them,  until  they  see  it  there 
with  their  own  eyes.  The  study  of  the  Gospels  is  a  simple 
thing.  The  knowledge  which  has  a  direct  and  important 
bearing  on  the  most  important  subjects  in  them  is  contained 
wathin  a  small  compass.  The  comparison  of  one  narrative 
with  another,  in  order  to  satisfy  ourselves  in  regard  to  their 
true  relations,  is  easily  effected  by  a  little  care,  and  the  ap- 
plication of  a  reasonable  amount  of  intelligence.  There  is 
a  vast  deal  of  humbug  in  the  pretensions  of  our  modern 
neologists.  The  cloud  of  words  thrown  round  their  theories, 
like  the  cloud  of  mysticism  which  enveloped  the  old  doctrines 
of  the  Church  in  its  pretensions  to  an  infallible  inspiration 
and  authority,  has  only  to  be  tried  in  the  light  of  reason  and 
common  sense  by  the  truthful  words  of  the  Evangelists,  and 
it  will  vanish  away. 

Extraordinary  pretensions,  however,  have  always,  for  a 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

geason,  an  influence  altogether  disproportionate  to  the  real 
power  that  is  in  them.  A  sceptical  thought  is  easily  lodged 
In  the  mind.  Delicate  and  sensitive  natures,  who  wish  to 
Relieve,  are  afraid  to  examine,  lest  the  foundations  of  their 
faith  should  sink  under  them.  Strong-minded,  efficient  men, 
who  ought  to  study  into  these  things,  and  thus  satisfy  them- 
selves, as  they  easily  might,  are  deterred  from  so  doing  by  a 
secret  misgiving  lest  the  grounds  of  their  faith  should  not 
bear  investigation.  Some  retreat  into  the  straiter  sects, 
from  a  less  to  a  more  rigid  form  of  Congregationalism,  from 
Congregationalism  to  Episcopacy,  from  Episcopacy  to  the 
Church  of  Rome,  or  directly,  for  extremes  meet  on  the  other 
side,  from  the  Absolutism  of  Rationalism  to  the  Absolutism 
of  Romanism.  There  is  everywhere,  even  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  communion  itself,  a  sentiment  of  unrest,  coming 
from  an  inward  unbelief,  which  men  try  to  cover  up  and 
hide  from  themselves  by  stricter  articles  of  faith,  by  more 
imposing  forms  of  worship,  by  Church  authorities,  instead 
of  healing  it  by  letting  in  upon  it  the  simple  truths  of  the 
Gospel,  as  examined  in  the  light  of  reason,  and  tested  by 
conscientious  and  faithful  lives.  But  change  of  position  is 
not  change  of  heart.  The  inward  unrest,  the  hidden  un- 
belief, which  durst  not  trust  God's  truth  unless  guarded  by 
human  defences,  fclings  to  them  still.  These  make-believe 
methods  of  finding  a  religious  faith,  and  with  it  health  and 
peace  of  mind,  answer  no  good  end.  The  sudden  and  un- 
natural marriages  which  are  sometimes  sought  in  the  des- 
peration of  disappointed  affections  are  seldom  blessed. 
There  is  a  hidden  element  of  falsehood,  or  self-deception, 
at  the  centre  of  them  all. 

If  we  have  doubts,  we  must  meet  them  fairly  and  honestly 
for  ourselves.  If  they  are  practical  doubts,  relating  to  the 
essentials  of  Christianity,  the  efficacy  of  prayer,  the  presence 
and  the  power  of  God  in  the  soul,  the  mediatorial  office  of 
Christ  between  God  and,  men,  we  must  read  the  Gospels 
for  practical  guidance,  and,  seeking  to  give  ourselves  up 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

entirely  to  their  instructions  by  prayer,  by  humility  of  heart, 
by  a  warmer  charity  towards  others,  by  more  faithful  and 
obedient  lives,  with  the  help  which  God  will  certainly  give 
to  us  if  we  seek  it  thus,  in  our  renovated  affections,  and  the 
deeper,  purer  life  of  the  soul,  we  shall  find  the  faith,  and 
with  it  the  inward  tranquillity  and  repose,  which  we  crave. 
That  is,  we  shall  find  enough  of  them  to  serve  as  a  foretaste 
and  pledge  of  the  perfect  love  and  peace  which  shall  be 
fulfilled  to  us  only  in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.  And  this 
is  all  that  has  been  gained  by  the  greatest  saints,  —  by 
Madame  Guyon  and  Fenelon,  Archbishop  Leighton  and  Bax- 
ter, Charles  Wesley  and  Channing  and  William  Croswell, 
as  we  see  when  we  are  admitted  to  a  knowledge  of  their 
interior  lives.  "  The  perfect,"  we  once  heard  Dr.  Channing 
say,  "  is  what  we  must  always  seek,  but  never  hope  to 
gain."  If,  on  the  other  hand,  our  doubts  are  of  an  intel- 
lectual character,  we  must  meet  them  fairly  on  intellectual 
grounds,  and  not  push  them  aside  for  others,  whether  sceptics 
or  bigots,  philosophers  or  Christian  believers,  to  do  our 
work  for  us.  It  is  better  to  read  the  Gospels  ourselves,  not 
through  the  creed  of  a  church  or  a  philosophical  dogma,  but 
with  our  own  eyes  and  minds,  such  as  God  has  made  them, 
and  judge  of  them  by  the  principles  of  reason  and  common 
sense.  If  they  give  way  under  the  examination,  let  us  meet 
the  facts  of  the  case  like  brave  and  honest  men,  and  not  like 
children,  who  blind  their  eyes  from  fear  of  seeing  a  ghost. 
But  they  will  not  give  way.  They  only  ask  to  be  tried  on 
their  own  merits.  The  reason  why  they  seem  to  us  so  un- 
substantial is,  that  we  do  not  rest  our  weight  upon  them. 
They  are  like  the  bridge  across  the  St.  Lawrence  at  Mon- 
treal, which  sensitively  vibrates  to  the  slightest  breeze,  and 
therefore  the  timid  traveller  may  fear  to  trust  himself  upon 
it ;  but  ten  thousand  tons  of  human  beings  and  costly  mer- 
chandise resting  upon  it,  only  shoAv  how  firm  and  strong  it  is. 
The  more  severely  we  test  the  Gospels,  the  more  securely 
shall  we  find  ourselves  sustained  by  them.  "  Come,  and  see, 
3 


26  INTRODUCTION. 

and  know  for  yourselves,"  is  their  appeal  to  us.  Only  let 
us  examine  thera  as  they  are  in  themselves,  giving  ourselves 
up  to  their  great  thoughts,  opening  our  souls  to  the  holy 
spirit  which  is  proceeding  from  them,  and  the  divine  life 
which  is  embodied  in  them,  and  which  by  an  eternal  genera- 
tion is  born  from  them  into  the  heart  and  life  of  our  race. 
If  we  have  doubts  or  fears,  let  us  search  the  Scriptures  till 
we  are  satisfied  in  regard  to  them.  We  have  never  known 
a  man  to  have  his  faith  shaken  by  a  thorough  and  impartial 
investigation  of  the  New  Testament ;  but  thousands  have  in 
this  way  had  it  confirmed  and  established. 

It  does  not  require  any  great  amount  of  learning  to  study 
the  Gospels  intelligently.  The  deepest  thought  and  the 
widest  amplitude  of  knowledge  may  find  room  for  exercise, 
if  we  undertake  to  explore  them  in  all  their  fulness,  and  in 
all  the  curious  details  connected  with  them.  We  may  lose 
ourselves  amid  the  wonders  and  mysteries  of  the  Divine 
nature,  if  we  undertake  to  fathom  them  in  our  speculations. 
But  a  clear  mind,  faithfully  applying  itself  to  the  study  of 
the  Gospels  in  a  truthful  spirit,  is  all  that  is  required  in 
order  to  gain  from  them  the  knowledge  that  is  most  valuable 
to  us.  An  acquaintance  with  ancient  customs,  with  oriental 
productions,  modes  of  living,  and  forms  of  speech,  may  give 
us  a  more  precise  idea  of  what  is  meant  in  some  cases.  But 
even  then,  except  in  a  very  few  instances,  the  essential  truth 
is  not  affected.  It  may  be  pleasant  to  us,  and  may  gratify 
a  reasonable  curiosity,  to  know  precisely  what  were  the  lilies 
of  the  field  and  the  fowls  of  the  air  to  which  our  Saviour 
called  attention,  as  emblems  and  proofs  of  the  paternal 
providence  of  God,  —  to  know  that  it  was  the  fruit  of  the 
carob-tree,  "with  a  hard,  dark  outside,  and  a  dull  sweet 
taste,"  and  not  husks,  which  the  Prodigal  longed  to  eat  as 
he  fed  it  enviously  to  the  swine,  while  he  was  perishing 
with  hunger,  —  to  know  how  the  houses  were  constructed  so 
that  the  paralytic  might  be  taken  up  by  an  outside  staircase 
to  the  flat  roof,  and  let  down  through  it  on  his  bed  into 


INTRODUCTION.  27 

the  inner  room  or  open  court,  where  Jesus  sat  surrounded 
by  a  throng  of  people.  But  the  lesson  taught,  in  each  one  of 
these  cases,  to  our  minds  and  hearts,  is  wholly  independent 
of  such  knowledge.  And  there  is  danger  lest,  in  seeking 
for  the  adventitious  information,  we  should  have  our  interest 
absorbed  in  that  which  was  intended  only  as  an  illustration, 
and  drawn  away  from  the  vital  truth  which  it  was  employed 
to  convey. 

The  geography  of  Palestine  is  intimately  connected  with 
our  Saviour's  ministry.  As  we  follow  him  back  and  forth, 
from  place  to  place,  on  the  map,  events  start  up  before  us, 
distinct  and  alive,  each  one  with  its  own  individuahty  upon 
it.  Almost  any  person  may  learn  enough  of  the  geography 
of  Palestine  for  this  purpose.  In  getting  a  clear  view  of 
his  life,  and  in  comparing  the  different  Evangelists  with  one 
another,  it  will  be  a  great  help  to  connect  each  event  with 
the  spot  where  it  occurred,  and  thus  make  it  real  to  us.  It 
will  give  the  Gospels  a  firmer  hold  on  our  minds,  and  free 
us  from  the  indistinct  and  dreamy  notions  with  which  we 
regard  them,  and  through  which  they  are  so  easily  turned 
into  myths.  We  are  thus  enabled  to  feel  and  handle  them, 
and  see  that  they  are  not  bodiless  apparitions,  but  substantial 
facts.  But  we  may  study  the  geography  of  Palestine  so  as 
to  know  all  about  the  various  localities  in  their  relation  to 
the  Gospels,  and  yet  be  all  the  while  so  absorbed  in  the 
geography  itself  as  to  have  no  perception  of  the  moral  influ- 
ences which  have  made  those  places  holy  and  immortal  in 
the  affections  of  mankind.  Much  of  our  Sunday-school 
teaching,  we  fear,  is  of  this  sort. 

One  difficulty  in  the  way  of  our  studying  the  Gospels 
arises  from  the  fact  that  we  are  so  familiar  with  them  that 
their  words  pass  through  our  minds  without  making  any  im- 
pression. This  difRculty  may  be  obviated  by  reading  them 
in  some  foreign  language,  or,  if  we  cannot  do  that,  in  some 
translation  different  from  our  common  version.  Norton's  or 
Campbell's   translation,  or  even  Sawyer's,  notwithstanding 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

the  severe  criticisms  which  it  has  called  out,  will  sometimes 
reveal  to  us  a  sentiment  or  a  thought  which  had  escaped  us 
in  our  daily  reading.  We  have  endeavored  in  this  work 
to  assist  the  student  by  analyzing  in  some  cases,  e.  g.,  in 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  our  Saviour's  discourses,  and  thus 
bringing  out  the  depth,  the  ajQfluence,  the  comprehensiveness 
and  completeness  of  the  thought.  After  such  an  analysis  we 
may  come  back  to  the  familiar  language  with  new  interest ; 
And  while  we  see  in  it  a  deeper  and  richer  meaning  than 
before,  we  may  find  in  the  old  words  an  aroma  of  Christian 
sentiment  whicli  had  escaped  in  the  process  of  analyzing  the 
thought,  and  which  can  be  embodied  in  no  other  Avords  but 
those  around  which  the  religious  associations  of  our  own 
lifetime,  and  of  centuries  before,  have  been  gathering. 

We  would  ask  the  attention  of  those  who  have  a  taste  for 
such  investigations,  and  particularly,  if  it  may  be  done  with- 
out presumption,  the  attention  of  men  of  a  legal  training,  to 
the  narratives  which  we  have  constructed  from  the  different 
Evangelists,  of  the  events  connected  with  the  last  days  of 
our  Saviour's  life,  and  the  morning  of  the  Resurrection.  No 
external  evidence  has  ever  produced  such  undoubting  con- 
fidence in  our  mind  as  the  way  in  which  these  four  distinct 
narratives,  now  approaching  and  now  diverging  from  one 
another,  —  now  almost  united  in  one,  and  now  apparently 
inconsistent  with  each  other, —  keep  on,  each  one  in  its  inde- 
pendent course,  while  all  combine  to  set  forth  the  same  great 
facts  with  no  real  inconsistency  even  in  their  minutest  details. 
We  would  particularly  ask  that  the  accounts  of  the  denials 
by  Peter,  the  trial  of  Jesus,  and  the  events  on  the  morning 
of  the  Resurrection,  may  be  subjected  to  the  severest  test  of 
a  judicial  investigation,  by  the  aid  of  a  topographical  plan 
of  Jerusalem  and  its  vicinity,  and  of  a  Jewish  palace,  with 
a  careful  attention  to  the  precise  words  of  the  original  Greek 
(disregarded  in  our  English  version),  by  which  the  writers 
denote  the  different  parts  of  a  palace,  —  the  house  itself,  the 
inner  court  or  hall,  the  gateway  or  entrance  to  the  court,  and 


INTRODUCTION.  29 

the  tessellated  pavement  in  front  of  the  palace,  on  which 
Pilate  erected  the  judgment-seat,  from  which  he  unwillingly 
pronounced  the  sentence  of  death  on  the  Saviour  of  the 
world.  Those  who  maj  be  inchned  to  follow  out  this  inter- 
esting and  conclusive  method  of  inquiry  under  the  guidance 
of  a  powerful,  discriminating,  and  appreciative  mind,  are 
referred  to  the  very  able  work  entitled  "  Plours  with  the 
Evangelists,"  by  I.  Nichols,  D.  D.  "  The  more,"  says  Da 
Costa,  "  we  examine  the  Gospels  in  detail,  as  with  a  mi- 
croscope, the  more  diversities  will  multiply  under  our  eyes  ; 
but  the  more  also  shall  we  find  these  diversities  consistent, 
and  so  consistent  that  they  constitute  in  each  of  the  four 
Gospels  a  particular  and  distinctive  character.  And  when 
once  we  have  found  this  special  character  of  each  Gospel, 
we  have  also  found  the  way  to  bring  all  these  real  diversities 
and  apparent  contradictions  into  one  final  and  harmonious 
unity." 

But  after  all,  even  in  an  intellectual  point  of  view,  the 
most  effective  method  of  studying  the  Gospels  is  with  a 
direct  application  of  their  precepts  to  the  duties  and  cir- 
cumstances of  life.  The  philosophy  of  our  day  is  experi- 
mental. Its  truths  and  their  value  in  each  case  are  tested 
by  experiment  under  the  guidance  of  known  facts.  So  the 
precepts  of  Christ,  both  in  regard  to  their  truthfulness  and 
their  value,  are  to  be  tested  by  being  applied  and  carried 
out  in  practice.  •  The  great  interior  principles  of  faith  and 
love  must  be  tried  in  our  hearts  ;  and  they  must  be  carried 
out  in  our  fidelity  to  the  precepts  and  commands  by  which 
our  external  lives  are  to  be  regulated.  In  this  way,  the 
intellectual  study  of  the  Gospels,  which  often  turas  aside 
into  eccentric  vagaries  or  degenerates  into  lifeless  and  heart- 
less speculations,  is  tested  by  our  own  experiences,  and  the 
truths  which  it  places  before  us  as  abstractions  are  filled  out 
with  the  warmth  and  enthusiasm  which  are  essential  to  them, 
and  without  which  we  can  no  more  see  them  as  they  are, 
than  we  can  understand  the  beauty  of  the  flowering  fields 
3* 


30  INTRODUCTION. 

as  they  are  in  June,  from  the  dried  specimens  in  the  hands 
of  a  botanist,  or  the  diagrams  in  his  book.  There  is  a  spir- 
itual life  flowing  through  every  part  of  the  Gospels,  which 
have  been  created  as  living  organisms,  and  not  put  together 
as  pieces  of  mechanism  ;  and  when  in  our  own  souls  we 
have  experienced  that  inward  life,  we  see  it  in  them  and 
them  in  it.  Every  word  that  our  Saviour  spoke,  every  act 
that  he  did,  has  an  organic  completeness  in  itself,  and  is 
endowed  with  the  power  of  perpetuating  its  own  life  ia  the 
lives  of  others.  Every  portion  of  the  Gospels  has  this 
essential  vitality,  a  living  and  perpetual  witness,  to  the  soul 
which  receives  it,  of  the  source  from  w^hich  it  came.  Cut  oft 
any  one  precept,  and  it  grows  out  again  from  the  parent 
stock.  You  cannot  make  it  dead,  so  long  as  you  test  its 
vitality  in  your  own  soul. 

The  separation  of  the  intellectual  study  of  the  Gospels 
from  the  life  in  which  their  truths  live  and  bloom,  is  a  sad 
necessity,  if  it  be  a  necessity,  in  the  scientific  education  of 
theological  students.  It  leads  them,  like  the  wandering  spirit 
of  old,  into  dry  and  desolate  places,  and  opens  before  them 
the  dreariest  visions  of  holiness  and  faith.  He  who  studies 
our  Saviour's  precepts  about  prayer,  and  never  prays,  can 
have,  even  intellectually,  but  a  meagre  idea  of  the  subject. 
He  who  studies  the  great  law  of  pre-eminence  among  his 
disciples  (Matt.  xx.  26)  will  make  poor  work  with  the  doc- 
trine until  he  has  sought  to  realize  it  in  himself,  not  only  by 
an  outward  show  of  obedience,  but  an  inward  subjection  of 
his  whole  nature  to  its  spirit.  It  is  only  by  the  union  of  study 
and  practice  that  the  highest  ends  of  religions  teaching  can 
be  gained.  Then  the  marriage  between  the  intellect  and 
the  heart  will  be  completed,  and  from  it  will  be  born  a 
life  of  faith  and  holiness  and  charity,  which  will  grow  up  as 
the  true  and  worthy  offspring  of  such  a  union. 


THE  GOSPEL  ACCORDING  TO   ST.  MATTHEW. 


It  does  not  enter  Into  the  design  of  this  work  to  determine  the 
authenticity  or  genuineness  of  the  Gospels.  We  take  that  for 
granted,  referring  those  who  may  wish  to  examine  the  matter 
thoroughly  to  Mr.  Norton's  "  Genuineness  of  the  Gospels  "  for 
the  external  evidence,  and  to  Dr.  Nichols's  "  Hours  with  the 
Evangelists  "  for  the  Internal  evidence.  We  suppose  the  Gospel 
of  St.  Matthew  to  have  been  written  by  him  in  the  language 
which  was  then  spoken  In  Palestine  and  which  is  usually  called 
the  Aramaean  or  Aramaic,  and  to  have  been  afterwards  translated 
into  Greek,  either  by  the  Apostle  himself  or  by  some  other  com- 
petent person.  In  the  year  1842  a  copy  of  the  greater  part  of 
the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew  In  the  Syrlac  language  was  obtained 
by  Archdeacon  Tattam  from  a  Syrian  monastery  In  the  valley  of 
the  Natron  Lakes,  which  was  published  In  1858  by  William  Cure- 
ton,  D.  D.,  Canon  of  Westminster,  &c.,  which  Is  regarded  by  the 
very  learned  editor  as  among  the  oldest  manuscript  copies  of 
the  Gospel  now  known,  and  respecting  which  he  does  not  hesitate 
to  express  his  behef,  that  "  It  has,  to  a  great  extent,  retained  the 
Identical  terms  and  expressions  which  the  Apostle  himself  em- 
ployed ;  and  that  we  have  here,  In  our  Lord's  discourses,  to  a 
great  extent,  the  very  same  words  as  the  Divine  Author  of  our 
holy  religion  himself  uttered  In  proclaiming  the  glad  tidings  of 
salvation  In  the  Hebrew  dialect  to  those  who  were  listening  to 
him,  and  through  them  to  all  the  world."  (Cureton's  Syrlac 
Gospels,  Pref ,  p.  xclii.)  The  precise  time  when  the  Gospel  was 
written  is  uncertain.  "Were  we,"  says  Davidson  (Introduc- 
tion to  the  New  Testament,  p.  136),  "to  express  an  opinion, 
we  should  be  inclined  to  adopt  A.  D.  41,  42,  or  43  as  the  most 


32     THE  GOSPEL  ACCORDING  TO  ST.  MATTHEW. 

probable."  "  The  place  where  the  Gospel  was  written  is  uni- 
formly said  to  have  been  Judaea."  Davidson  supposes  it  to  have 
been  written  in  Hebrew,  and  that  the  Greek  version  "  must  have 
been  made  before  the  close  of  the  first  century ;  probably  before 
the  appearance  of  the  Gospel  of  John."  It  is  one  of  the  tradi- 
tions respecting  it,  and  it  bears  internal  evidence  to  the  same 
effect,  that  it  was  written  particularly  for  the  Jews.  We  sec 
marks  of  this  intention,  especially  in  the  first  chapters;  but 
throughout  the  Gospel  there  is  evidently  a  peculiar  adaptation  to 
the  Jewish  mind,  particularly  Avhen  speaking  of  events  as  neces- 
sary in  order  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecies,  and  in  the  pains 
which  are  taken  to  set  forth  the  ncAv  religion  as  a  fulfihnent, 
while  the  traditions  of  the  Pharisees  were  only  a  perversion  and 
abuse,  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets. 


MATTHEW. 


CHAPTER    I. 

1-17.  —  The  Lineage  or  Genealogy  of  Jesus. 

The  Gospel  of  Matthew  bears  internal  evidence  of  having 
been  written  by  a  Jew,  and  with  particular  reference  to  his 
own  countrymen.  We  see  marks  of  this  design  especially 
in  the  first  chapters,  which  open  the  whole  subject  from  a 
Jewish  point  of  view,  and  in  a  manner  particularly  adapted 
to  the  feelings  and  habits  of  thought  then  existing  among  the 
Jews.  The  writer  is  not,  as  has  been  charged  against  him, 
imbued  with  their  prejudices  and  their  erroneous  ideas  re- 
specting the  Messiah.  But  he  has  been  educated  as  a  Jew, 
and  in  sympathy  with  the  Jewish  mind.  If  he  has  also  been 
introduced  into  a  higher  realm  of  spiritual  life  and  thought, 
he  is  able  to  enter,  as  no  one  but  a  person  born  and  brought 
up  in  a  Jewish  atmosphere  could,  into  the  views  and  feelings 
of  his  countrymen.  By  his  appreciation  of  their  state  of 
mind,  and  his  sympathy  with  them  in  their  religious  expec- 
tations, he  is  able  to  gain  a  hearing  from  them,  while  he 
turns  in  the  direction  of  their  strongest  expectations,  and 
shows  how  the  prophetic  writings  find  their  fulfilment  in 
Jesus.  His  quotations  and  allusions,  his  local  and  historical 
references,  his  mode  of  presenting  what  they  would  regard 
as  objectionable  subjects,  his  forms  of  expression  and  meth- 
ods of  appeal  through  their  early  religious  associations,  are 


34  MATTHEW   I.    1-17. 

all  adapted  to  the  Jewish  mind,  and  fitted  to  lead  them, 
without  any  needless  shock  to  their  prejudices,  into  a  recog- 
nition of  Jesus  as  the  Messiah. 

We  have  an  instance  of  this  in  the  opening  words  of  the 
Gospel,  "  The  lineage  of  Jesus  Christ,  son  of  David,  son  of 
Abraham."  The  term  "  son  of  David  "  seems  to  have  been 
one  held  in  the  highest  reverence  among  the  Jews,  even  if 
it  were  not  used,  as  it  probably  was,  hke  the  word  Messiah, 
to  designate  "  him  who  was  to  come,"  their  great  "deliverer" 
and  "  redeemer."  By  the  use  of  this  term,  therefore,  Mat- 
thew at  the  beginning  appeals  to  a  national  expectation, 
which  he  still  encourages  when,  in  a  genealogy,  probably 
copied  from  public  registers  whose  authority  was  recognized 
by  tlie  Jews  of  his  day,  he  traces  step  by  step  the  descent 
of  Jesus  from  their  most  powerful  monarch,  and  through 
him  from  their  most  illustrious  ancestor.  The  prejudice 
which  otherwise  might  have  led  them  to  put  aside  with 
contempt  the  claims  of  a  poor  young  man  from  Galilee,  is 
thus  removed  at  the  very  outset.  Though  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth was  despised  and  rejected  of  men,  yet  he  was  descended 
from  a  race  of  kings  and  patriarchs.  We  can  scarcely  con- 
ceive how  this  dry  catalogue  of  hard  words  should  rouse 
the  national  enthusiasm  of  a  Jew  by  its  roll  of  mighty 
names,  and  awaken  his  respect  for  one  whose  advent  into 
the  world  had  been  prepared  through  such  a  line  of  an- 
cestors. 

In  order  that  it  should  have  any  weight  with  the  Jews, 
this  table  of  names  must  have  been  copied  from  family 
registers  which  they  recognized  as  authentic.  Whatever 
view,  therefore,  we  may  take  of  the  inspiration  of  the  writer, 
our  confidence  In  his  accuracy  cannot  be  affected  by  any 
omissions  or  mistakes  that  may  be  pointed  out  in  the  list 
of  names.  It  is  not  on  his  authority  as  that  of  an  inspired 
writer,  but  on  their  authority  as  records  preserved  and 
accepted  by  the  Jews,  that  Matthew  presents  them  to  his 
countrymen.     If  he  had   been   inspired   to    correct  every 


MATTHEW   I.    18-25.  35 

mistake  and  supply  every  omission,  every  alteration  that 
he  made  would  serve  only  to  destroy  their  authority  with 
those  for  whom  he  was  writing,  and  to  excite  their  preju- 
dices against  him.  This  view  of  the  matter  takes  away 
altogether  the  force  of  objections  to  the  accuracy  of  the 
Gospels,  which  are  drawn  from  apparent  discrepancies  be- 
tween the  genealogy  here  and  that  in  Luke  iii.  23-38. 
We  have  only  to  suppose  them  to  be,  as  they  unquestion- 
ably are,  copies  of  different  records,  which  had  been  kept 
in  different  places,  and  which  varied  from  one  another, 
either  through  want  of  exactness  in  the  records,  or  in  con- 
sequence of  the  different  methods  by  which  the  line  of  an- 
cestors was  brought  down  from  a  common  original.  The 
labored  attempts,  therefore,  to  reconcile  these  two  lists  of 
names  with  each  other,  or  with  records  found  in  the  Old 
Testament,  however  interesting  they  may  be  to  ingenious 
scholars,  can  have  no  important  bearing  on  the  trustworthi- 
ness of  the  Gospels. 

18-25.  —  Miraculous  Conception. 

The  account  of  the  birth  of  Jesus  which  is  given  here 
and  in  the  second  chapter  of  Luke,  has  been  a  stumbling- 
block  to  many  sincere  minds,  and  is  rejected  as  in  itself 
incredible  by  some  who  accept  as  authentic  the  other  evan- 
gelical accounts  of  miracles.  But  is  there  anything  in  the 
nature  of  things  incredible  in  what  is  here  recorded  ?  The 
great  naturalists  of  our  day  recognize  a  succession  of  creative 
epochs,  when  higher  types  of  physical  life  were  introduced. 
The  different  orders  of  animals  which  have  appeared  from 
time  to  time  were  not  slowly  evolved  by  a  process  of  de- 
velopment from  lower  orders  previously  existing,  but  one 
after  another  they  have  been  introduced  by  separate  and 
original  acts  of  creation.  Now,  as  the  physical  advance- 
ment of  the  world  has  thus  been  marked  by  distinct  crea- 
tive   epochs,  might  we  not  expect  something  of  the  same 


36  MATTHEW   I.    18-25. 

kind  in  its  spiritual  advancement  ?  "  But  how  is  it  possible," 
we  are  asked,  "that  such  an  event  as  that  recorded  here 
and  in  the  second  chapter  of  Luke  could  take  place?" 
How  is  it  possible,  we  ask  in  reply,  that  a  new  order  of 
animals  should  be  introduced,  or  the  first  man  created? 
We  cannot  understand  these  things,  and  our  ignorance 
should  make  us  slow  in  setting  limits,  not  only  to  what 
is  possible,  but  to  what  is  probable,  in  the  exercise  of  God's 
almighty  and  creative  power.  "Within  certain  spheres  of 
creative  action,  where  facts  enough  are  ascertained  to  de- 
termine what  is  the  estabhshed  order  of  development  and 
progress,  as,  for  example,  in  the  sciences  of  natural  history, 
chemistry,  and  astronomy,  we  may  draw  our  inferences 
with  a  good  degree  of  certainty,  and  foretell  what  is  to  be 
from  our  knowledge  of  what  has  been.  But  even  here  we 
are  not  competent  to  decide  beforehand  when  a  new  crea- 
tive epoch  shall  supervene  upon  the  existing  order  of  things 
in  time  to  come,  as  it  has  in  time  past,  or  whether  it  shall 
come  at  all.  Our  knowledge  does  not  reach  far  enough,  — 
we  have  not  ascertained  facts  enough,  or  with  a  sufficient 
degree  of  exactness,  —  to  comprehend  these  widely  separat- 
ed and  therefore  apparently  extraordinary  interpositions,  or 
to  reconcile  them  with  what  we  know  of  the  laws  of  nature. 
There  was  a  time  when  the  motion  of  comets  was  supposed 
to  be  wholly  eccentric,  and  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of 
planetary  motion.  It  only  required  a  wider  and  more  pre- 
cise knowledge  of  facts  to  reduce  them  all  to  the  same  law. 
So,  unquestionably,  it  is  in  regard  to  the  widely  separated 
creative  epochs  in  the  physical  universe. 

And  have  we  not  a  right  to  infer,  at  least  as  not  im- 
possible or  in  itself  extremely  improbable,  something  of  the 
same  kind  in  regard  to  those  apparently  anomalous  inter- 
ventions by  which  a  higher  spiritual  life  has  from  time 
to  time  been  brouglit  into  the  workl  ?  Is  it  the  part  of  a 
true  philosophy  to  deny  the  alleged  fact,  because  Ave  can- 
not see  far  enough  to  reconcile  it  with  our  preconceived  and 


MATTHEW    I.    18-25.  37 

limited  ideas  of  nature  and  the  natural  order  of  events? 
In  regard  to  the  miraculous  conception  of  Jesus  by  an 
immediate  creative  act  of  the  divine  spirit,  may  we  not 
regard  it  as  analogous  to  tho.^e  creative  epochs  when  new 
orders  of  plants  or  animals  are  first  introduced  ?  As  to  the 
vulgar  objection,  that  it  involves  an  act  which  is  in  itself 
impossible,  or  at  least  utterly  incredible,  we  may  allow  it 
to  have  some  weight  with  us,  when  those  who  urge  it  show 
wherein  the  birth  of  a  soul  into  the  world  by  the  immediate 
act  of  God,  as  here  related,  is  in  itself  more  impossible,  or 
more  utterly  inexplicable  to  us,  than  the  ordinary  process 
by  which  a  plant,  an  animal,  or  a  human  being  is  produced. 
The  precise  means  by  which  hfe  is  perpetuated  is  just  as 
much  a  mystery  to  us  as  the  means  by  which  it  was  origi- 
nally introduced  with  the  first  plant,  or  man,  or  with  Jesus, 
who  stands  at  the  head  of  a  new  and  spiritual  creation. 

This  much  may  be  urged  from  their  own  stand-point 
against  the  conclusions  of  those  who,  on  scientific  grounds, 
reject  this  whole  class  of  facts  as  lying  outside  of  the  order 
of  nature.  There  are  others,  who  believe  in  the  Christian 
miracles,  but  reject  the  account  of  the  miraculous  conception 
as  something  plainly  unnatural  and  improbable.  Among 
these,  perhaps  at  the  head  of  this  class  of  writers,  is  Dr. 
Furness,  in  the  views  which  he  has  taken  of  this  matter 
in  the  fresh,  original,  and  beautiful  works  which  he  has  pub- 
lished on  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He  lays  great  emphasis  on 
the  naturalness  of  the  Christian  miracles,  —  the  ease  with 
which  they  were  evidently  performed  by  Jesus  in  the 
natural  exercise  of  his  own  faculties.  But  why  were  they 
so  easy  to  him,  unless  because  of  the  extraordinary  powers 
with  Avhich  he  was  endowed  ?  He  came  to  introduce  a  new 
epoch  of  spiritual  life ;  and,  that  it  might  be  in  conformity 
with  the  order  of  nature,  must  it  not  have  been  by  a  new 
act  of  creation  ?  He  who  stood  at  the  head  of  this  new 
era,  by  the  natural  exercise  of  his  own  powers  uttering 
thoughts  and  doing  deeds  man  never  had  done  before,  must 


38  MATTHEW    I.    18-25. 

have  been  endowed  as  man  never  had  been  before.  And 
could  these  extraordinary  endowments  have  been  bestowed 
upon  him  in  any  way  more  in  accordance  with  the  order  of 
nature  than  by  the  method  here  indicated,  i.  e.  by  a  new 
act  of  creative  power  ? 

When  speaking  of  nature  as  containing  within  itself  all 
the  powers  and  agencies  of  the  universe,  we  must  not  con- 
fine ourselves  to  the  limited  operations  which  take  place 
within  our  ordinary  experience,  but  must  leave  room  for 
those  great  secular  interpositions  which  are  equally  a  part 
of  the  divine  system  of  nature,  and  which,  at  widely  dis- 
tant intervals  in  the  fulness  of  time,  bring  in  new  orders 
of  beings  and  new  eras  of  life.  Immeasurably  the  greatest 
religious  epoch  since  the  creation  of  man  was  that  which 
was  introduced  by  Jesus.  When  we  speak  of  it  merely 
as  of  a  new  revelation,  we  fail  utterly  to  express  either  its 
character  or  its  greatness.  Matthew  and  Luke,  in  their  ac- 
count of  the  conception  of  Jesus  by  an  immediate  act  of 
God's  creative  spirit ;  the  introduction  to  the  Gospel  of  John 
respecting  the  word  made  flesh ;  the  language  of  Paul,  as, 
e.  g.  in  Col.  i.  15  -  20,  where  he  speaks  of  Christ  as  the 
first-born  of  every  creature,  and,  not  the  revealer  alone 
of  divine  truth,  but  the  creator  of  new  worlds  of  spiritual 
life  and  power,  —  are  in  this  way  brought  into  harmony 
with  one  another,  with  the  account  of  his  miracles,  and  witli 
the  otherwise  extraordinary  language  which  he  applied  to 
himself.  The  Gospel  account  of  the  conception  of  Jesus 
comes  as  the  fitting  and  natural  introduction  into  the  world 
of  a  divine  life,  which,  growing  up  under  the  laws  of  our 
mortal  and  human  condition,  should,  as  a  new  creation, 
stand  at  the  head  of  a  new  era  in  man*s  history.  Here, 
at  its  beginning  on  the  earth,  is  a  fountain  high  and  large 
enough  to  fill  all  the  streams  of  action,  thought,  and  life 
which  flow  through  the  Gospel  narratives.  The  knowl- 
edge, holiness,  and  power  of  Jesus,  so  far  transcending  all 
that  man  had  known  or  been  or  done,  are  only  on  the  same 


MATTHEW   I.   22,    23.  39 

high  level  as  his  birth.  The  beginning  is  needed,  in  order 
to  account  for  that  which  follows.  Without  it,  the  miracles, 
and  still  more  the  terms  in  which  Jesus  constantly  spoke 
of  himself,  would  seem  to  us  unnatural  and  monstrous. 

We  accept,  then,  the  account  of  the  miraculous  conception, 
not  only  because  it  is  an  undisputed  part  of  the  Gospel 
narratives,  but  because  something  of  the  kind  is  required 
by  the  higher  and  broader  analogies  of  nature,  and  in  order 
to  the  completeness  of  the  Gospels  themselves. 

22,  23.  —  Prediction  of  Christ's  Birth. 

The  account  of  the  miraculous  conception  of  Jesus  by 
a  virgin  would  undoubtedly  appear  harsh  and  offensive  to 
the  Jewish  mind.  To  soften  this  impression,  the  writer 
introduces  from  one  of  the  most  honored  among  the  Jew- 
ish prophets  language  which  so  exactly  describes  the  case 
before  them  that  the  whole  matter  presents  itself  as  a  fulfil- 
ment of  the  ancient  prediction.  The  passage  quoted  from 
Isaiah  vii.  14  is  taken  from  the  Septuagint  version,  where 
the  word  napOeuos,  vii'gin,  is  used  instead  of  a  literal  transla- 
tion of  the  less  decisive  Hebrew  word,  which  means  damsel, 
or  a  young  and  unmarried  woman.  This  particular  word, 
in  the  connection  in  which  it  is  here  given,  is  just  the  one 
to  meet  the  Jewish  feeling  caused  by  the  account  of  the 
birth  of  Jesus,  and  meet  it  all  the  more  effectively  because 
the  purpose  for  which  the  passage  is  introduced  is  not 
stated.  It  is  as  if  the  writer,  seeing  how  his  Jewish  read- 
ers were  likely  to  be  affected  by  an  account  so  extraor- 
dinary, had  said,  "  Here  we  may  apply  the  words  of  the 
prophet,  'A  virgin  shall  conceive  and  bear  a  son,'"  —  thus, 
in  the  very  language  of  their  sacred  writings,  describing 
that  feature  in  the  birth  of  Jesus  which  must  have  been 
most  offensive  to  them.  We  are  to  regard  the  quotation 
as  primarily  brought  forward  less  for  the  purpose  of  arguing 
from  a  prophecy  fulfilled,  than  to  soften  their  prejudices  by 


40  MATTHEW    I.    22,   23. 

the  literal  application  to  the  objectionable  features  of  the 
case  before  them  of  language  which  they  held  sacred. 

Is  the  passage  here  quoted  from  Isaiah  a  prediction  of 
the  Messiah?  To  answer  this  question  we  must  examine 
it  in  its  original  connection.  There  we  find  that  Syria 
and  Samaria  have  combined  against  Ahaz,  king  of  Judah, 
who  is  greatly  terrified  and  discouraged.  The  prophet  an- 
nounces, as  a  sign  to  Ahaz,  that  a  woman  then  unmarried 
shall  bear  a  son,  and  call  his  name  Immanuel  (God-with- 
us,  in  token  of  God's  presence),  and  before  the  child  shall 
be  old  enough  to  know  good  from  evil,  the  land  whose  two 
kings  so  terrified  Ahaz  should  be  desolate.  This,  as  any 
one  who  reads  the  whole  chapter  (Noyes's  Translation) 
must  see,  is  the  only  application  required  or  suggested  by 
the  language. 

May  it  not,  however,  in  accordance  with  the  divine  in- 
tention, be  taken  up  out  of  its  original  surroundings,  and 
as  a  prophetic  declaration  find  its  highest  and  truest  fulfil- 
ment in  some  remote  and  entirely  different  class  of  events  ? 
"  Often,"  says  Bengel,  "  predictions  are  quoted  in  the  New 
Testament  which  the  original  hearers  were  undoubtedly  re- 
quired by  the  divine  purpose  to  apply  to  events  then  taking 
place.  But  the  same  divine  purpose,  looking  farther  on, 
so  framed  the  language  that  it  might  fit  more  exactly  the 
times  of  the  Messiah,  and  this  divine  purpose,  the  Apostles 
teach,  we  are  readily  to  accept."  "The  difhculty,"  says 
Olshausen,  (Commentary  on  Gospels,  Matthew  i.  22,  23,) 
"can  be  removed  by  our  acknowledging  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment prophecies  a  twofold  reference  to  a  present  lower 
subject  and  to  a  future  higher  one.  With  this  suppo- 
sition, we  can  everywhere  adhere  to  the  immediate,  simple, 
grammatical  sense  of  the  words,  and  still  recognize  the 
quotations  of  tlie  New  Testament  as  prophecies  in  the  full 
sense.  And  it  belongs  to  the  peculiar  adjustment  and 
arrangement  of  the  Scripture,  that  the  life  and  substance 
of  the  Old  Testament  were  intended  as  a  mirror  of  the 


MATTHEW    I.  41 

New  Testament  life,  and  that  in  the  person  of  Christ  par- 
ticularly, as  the  representative  of  the  New  Testament,  all 
the  rays  of  the  Old  Testament  ideas  are  concentrated  as 
in  their  focus." 

We  may  admit  the  general  principle  here  stated.  The 
only  objection  to  applying  it  in  the  case  before  us  is  the 
want  of  sufficient  evidence  that  this  particular  passage  was 
intended,  either  by  the  prophet  or  the  evangeHst,  to  be 
so  understood.  On  reading  carefully  the  whole  passage 
in  Isaiah,  from  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  chapter  to  the 
eighth  verse  of  the  ninth  chapter  in  Dr.  Noyes's  Transla- 
tion, we  cannot  free  ourselves  from  the  impression,  that 
though  the  seventh  chapter  standing  by  itself  might  indi- 
cate no  allusion  to  the  Messiah,  yet  the  extraordinary  pas- 
sage beginning  with  the  last  verse  of  the  eighth  and  reach- 
ing through  the  first  seven  verses  of  the  ninth  chapter  can 
hardly  be  understood  in  any  other  way  than  as  pointing 
on  to  the  times  of  the  Messiah ;  and  if  so,  as  giving  some 
countenance  to  those  who  interpret  vii.  14  as  in  a  secondary 
sense  applying  to  the  same  distant  event.  For  the  opposite 
view,  see  Dr.  Palfrey's  able,  ingenious,  and  elaborate  work 
on  "  The  Relation  between  Judaism  and  Christianity." 


NOTES. 

The  book  of  the  generation  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  son  of  Da- 

2  vid,   the   son  of  Abraham. Abraham   begat   Isaac  ;    and 

Isaac  begat  Jacob ;  and  Jacob  begat  Judas  and  his  brethren. 

1.  Jesus  Christ]     In  the  body  truthfulness   in  the  writers  of  the 

of  the  Gospel,  where  Jesus  is  spoken  New  Testament.  the  sou 

of  as  present  and  actins:,  he  is  never  of  David]  i.  e.  the  true  Messiah, 

called  by  his  official  title,  Christ,  ihe  "  For  by  no  more  common  or  more 

Messiah^  or  ikea7iointed,thou(r:h  he  is  proper  iiame  did  the  Jewish  nation 

constantly  so  called  in  the  Acts  and  point  out  the  iSIessiah,  than  by  the 

the   Epistles.      This  is  one  of  the  son  of  David.      See  Matt.  xii.  23, 

slight  but  unmistakable  marks  of  xxi.  9,  xxii.  42  ;   Luke  xviii.  38  ; 
4* 


42  MATTHEW    I. 

And  Judas  begat  Phares  and  Zara  of  Thamar.     And  Phares  3 
begat   Esrom ;    and   Esrom   begat   Aram ;    and   Aram  begat  4 
Aminadab  ;  and  Aminadab  begat  Naasson  ;  and  Naasson  begat 
Sahnon  ;  and  Salmon  begat  Booz  of  Rachab.     And  Booz  be-   5 
gat  Obed  of  Ruth.     And  Obed  begat  Jesse  ;  and  Jesse  begat   6 
David  the  king.     And  David  the  king  begat  Solomon  of  her 
that  had  been  the  wife  of  Urias.    And  Solomon  begat  Roboam ;   7 
and  Roboam  begat  Abia ;  and  Abia  begat  Asa ;  and  Asa  be-  s 
gat  Josaphat;    and  Josaphat  begat  Joram;  and  Joram  begat 
Ozias ;  and  Ozias  begat  Joatham ;  and  Joatham  begat  Achaz ;   9 
and  Achaz  begat  Ezekias ;  and  Ezekias  begat  Manasses ;  and  lo 
Manasses  begat  Amon ;  and  Amon  begat  Josias;  and  Josias  ii 
begat  Jechonias  and  his  brethren,  about  the  time  they  were 
carried  away  to  Babylon.  —  And  after  they  were  brought  to  12 
Babylon,  Jechonias  begat  Salathiel ;  and  Salathiel  begat  Zoro- 
babel ;  and  Zorobabel  begat  Abiud ;  and  Abiud  begat  Elia-  13 
kim ;  and  Ellakim  begat  Azor ;  and  Azor  begat  Sadoc  ;  and  14 
Sadoc  begat  Achim ;  and  Achim  begat  Eliud ;  and  Eliud  be-  15 
gat  Eleazar ;  and  Eleazar  begat  Matthan  ;  and  Matthan  begat 
Jacob ;    and  Jacob   begat  Joseph  the   husband  of  Mary,  of  16 

whom  was  born  Jesus,  who  is  called  Christ. So  all  the  17 

generations  from  Abraham  to  David  are  fourteen  generations  ; 
and  from  David  until  the  carrying  away  into  Babylon  are  four- 
teen generations ;  and  from  the  carrying  away  into  Babylon 
unto  Christ  are  fourteen  generations. 

Now  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ  was  on  this  wise :  when  as  his  is 
mother  Mary  Avas  espoused  to  Joseph,  before  they  came  to- 
gether, she  was  found  with  child  of  the  Holy  Ghost.     Then  19 
Joseph  her  husband,  being  a  just  man,  and  not  willing  to  make 

and  everywhere   in  the   Talmudic  ]\Ianasseh,  &:c.                   17.  from 

writers." "^  Lightfoot.               8.  and  Abraham  to  David  are   four- 

Joram  begat  Ozias]    Ozias  was  teen  generations]     Only  thirteea 

not   the   son   of  Joram,   but   there  are  here  given.  One  name  may  have 

were  three  kings  between  them, —  slipped  out  of  the  account;  but,  as 

Ahaziah,  Joash,  and  Amaziah.     In  Lightfoot  states,  literal  exactness  in 

the    Syriac  version   edited   by  Dr.  numbers  was  not  regarded  by  the 

Cureton,  these  names  are  supplied.  Jews.                   19.  Then  Joseph 

In  these  genealogical  tables  it  was  her  husband]      It  was  the  cus- 

not  unusual  to  omit  several  genera-  tom   among   the   Jews   for  a  man 

tions,  and  to  reckon  the  legal  grand-  to  be  betrothed  to  a  woman  some 

son  or  great-grandson  as  if  he  were  time   before   he   actually  took   her 

a  son.      Ozias  is  tlie   Greek  name  from  her  father's  house  to  live  with 

for  Uzziah,  as  Achaz  is  for  Ahaz,  her  as  his  wife.     During  this  inter- 

Ezekias  for  Hezekiah,  Manasses  for  val  she  was  considered  his  wife, 


MATTHEW   I. 


43 


her  a  public  example,  was  minded  to  put  her  away  privily. 

20  But  while  he  thought  on  these  things,  behold,  the  angel  of  the 
Lord  appeared  unto  him  in  a  dream,  saying :  Joseph,  thou  son 
of  David,  fear  not  to  take  unto  thee  Mary  thy  wife ;  for  that 

21  which  is  conceived  in  her  is  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  she  shall 
bring  forth  a  son,  and  thou  shalt  call  his  name  JESUS;   for  he 

22  shall  save  his  people  from  their  sins.  (Now  all  this  was  done, 
that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  of  the  Lord  by  the 


find  was  legally  liable  for  any  mis- 
conduct, the  same  as  if  tliey  had 
actually  come  together  in  marriage. 
If  Joseph,  therefore,  had  instituted 
proceedings  against  Mary  for  con- 
jugal infidelity,  the  legal  penalty, 
a  disgraceful  divorce  or  perhaps 
death,  would  have  been  exacted. 
The  word  translated  j«/s<,  diKaios, 
does  not  bear  the  meaning  viercifal, 
which  is  sometimes  put  \ipon  it.  A 
paraplu-ase  closer  to  the  original 
would  be  :  "  But  Joseph,  her  "hus- 
band, though  a  just  man,  [and  there- 
fore unable  to  countenance  what 
seemed  to  him  a  violation  of  the 
law,]  yet  not  wishing  to  expose  her 
[to  unnecessary  shame  or  suffer- 
ing], had  made" up  his  mind  to  put 
her  away  privately ; "  not,  however, 
without"  a  Avriting  of  divorce,  as 
that  would  have  been  unlawful. 
For  the  law  of  divorce,  see  Deut. 
xxii.  23,  xxiv.  1.  20.  in  a 

dream]  This  mode  of  divine  com- 
munication, i.  e.  through  a  dream, 
is  mentioned  nowhere  in  the  New 
Testament  but  here  and  in  the  next 
chapter,  unless  we  regard  the  dream 
of  Pilate's  wife,  xxvii.  19,  as  of  the 
same  character.  21.  and 

thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus] 
i.  e.  Saviour,  —  in  Hebrew,  the 
same  name  as  Joshua.  for 

he  shall  save  his  people  from 
their  sins]  The  true  character 
of  his  salvation,  namely,  salvation 
from  sin  rather  than  from  its  penal- 
ties, is  here  distinctly  set  forth. 
his  people]  not  the' Jews  alone,  but 
all  who  accept  him  as  their  Sav- 
iour. 22.  that  it  might 
be  fulfilled,  &c.]  "lua,  that.  "  It 
is  impossible,"  says  Alford,  "to  in- 
terpret tva  in  any  other  sense  than 
'  in  order  that.'    The  words  '  all  this 


was  done,'  and  the  uniform  usage 
of  the  New  Testament,  in  which 
ifa  is  never  used  except  in  this 
sense,  forbid  any  other."  We  are 
surprised  at  so  unqualified  a  state- 
ment. Winer,  the  ablest  writer  on 
the  Grammar  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, though  he  insists  on  design 
as  the  primary  and  almost  iiniforra 
meaning  of  the  Avoi-d,  is  yet  obliged 
to  allow  that  there  are  cases  (e.  g. 
John  i.  27,  iv.  34,  vi.  7,  xv.  8,  xvi.  7 ; 
Matt,  xviii.  6;  Luke  xi.  50,  xvii.  2, 
&c.)  where  ''the  original  import  of 
the  particle  of  design  entirely  dis- 
appears." Winer,  xliv.  8,  c.  (Mas- 
sou's  Tr.,  Am.  ed.  p.  354).  Sophocles, 
in  his  learned  work,  "  A  Glossary  of 
Later  and  Byzantine  Greek,"  Intro- 
duct.,  §  95,  says :  "  hi  later  and  By- 
zantine Greek,  iva  often  denotes  a 
result;  that  is,  it  has  the  force  of 
(oare,  that,  so  that,  so  as.'^  And 
this  he  proves  by  many  examples. 
Purpose  or  design  is  not  then  neces- 
sarily implied  by  the  word  Lva.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  also  used  to  de- 
note result  as  well  as  purpose ;  e.  g. 
Luke  ix.  45 :  "  But  they  understood 
not  this  saying,  and  it  was  hid  from 
them,  that  [lva,  so  that]  they  per- 
ceived it  not."  This  passage,  we 
think,  furnishes  the  key  to  the  pas- 
sage here,  and  to  the  same  form  of 
exi^ression.  Matt.  ii.  15,  iv.  14,  xxi. 
4,  xxvii.  35.  In  every  one  of  these 
instances,  so  that  is  a  better  trans- 
lation of  lva  than  in  order  that.  It 
is  equally  in  conformity  Avith  the 
orammatical  usage  of  the  Greek 
word,  and  evidently  better  describes 
the  use  that  is  made  of  the  prophe- 
cies. The  Evangelist  does  not  mean 
to  sav,  these  events  occuired  in 
order'^that  the  words  of  the  prophet 


44 


MATTHEW    I. 


prophet,  saying:    "Behold,  a  virgin  shall  be  "with  child,  and  23 
shall  bring  forth  a  son,  and  they  shall  call  his  name  Emmanu- 
el;" which,  being  interpreted,  is,  God  with  us.)     Then  Joseph,  24 
being  raised  from  sleep,  did  as  the  angel  of  the  Lord  had  bid- 
den him ;  and  took  unto  him  his  wife,  and  knew  her  not  till  25 
she  had  brought  foi-th  her  first-born  son;    and  he  called  his 
name  Jesus. 


might  be  fulfilled,"  but  "  they 
occurred  in  such  a  manner  that 
US  a  resul*^  the  words  of  the  proph- 
et were  fulfilled  in  them."  22. 
might  be  fulfilled]  TrXTjpcodf]. 
AVhat  is  meant  by  fulji lied  f  The 
literal  meaning  of  this  word  hjilled, 
or  filed  aut.  Thus  :Matt.  v.  17: 
"  Think  not  that  I  come  to  destroy 
the  law  or  the  prophets :  I  come  not 
to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil;"  i.  e.  I 
come  to  carry  out  to  its  complete 
and  spirituaf  fulfilment  the  law 
whose  burdensome  forms,  once  a 
help,  are  now  a  hindrance  to  the 
Avork  for  which  it  Avas  given.  To 
fulfil,  in  this  case,  is  not,  therefore, 
a  literal  fulfilment,  —  for  in  the  lit- 
eral sense  of  the  Avords,  Jesus  did 
come  to  destroy  the  law ;  but  it  Avas 
to  fulfil  the  laAv  in  a  different  and 
higher  sense  than  had  preAiously 
been  thought  of  The  same,  Ave 
suppose,  is  also  true  in  regard  to 
the  prophets.  Not  always  in  a 
literal  sense,  but  in  their  deepest 
and  highest  meaning,  in  the  diA'ine 
truth  and  life,  the  spiritual  re- 
demption and  deliA'crance  towards 
Avhich  they  Avere  pointing,  their 
Avords  are  fulfilled  in  Jesus.  So, 
in  other  waj^s,  in  an  inferior  sense, 
BA'en  one  Avhich  though  literal  may 
lacA^er  haA-e  occurred  to  them,  spe- 
cific Avords  Avhich  they  ixsed  may 
liaA'e  been  fulfilled  in  particular  in- 
cidents connected  Avith  his  life,  i.  e. 
may  be  used  to  describe  them,  as 
in  the  passage  before  us.  See  also 
Notes  on  ii.  5,  15,  17,  23  ;  xxi. 
4.  For  a  fuller  exposition  of  the 
subject  of  Prophecy,  see  xxiv. 

23.  Behold^  a  virgin] 


The  first  clause  of  this  sentence  is 
the  emphatic  one.  The  name  Em- 
manuel, Avhich  is  found  noAvhere  else 
in  the  New  Testament,  Avas  not  giA'- 
en  to  Jesus.  He  Avas  not  so  named 
by  his  parents.  He  never  assumed 
the  name  himself,  and  Avas  never  so 
called  by  his  disciples.  It  Avas  di- 
rected to  be  given  to  a  child  men- 
tioned in  Is.  vii.  14,  Avho  Avas  to  be 
born  in  the  reign  of  Ahaz,  and  Avho 
Avas  to  be  to  him  a  sign  that  God 
Avas  Avith  him.  "  The  mere  use  of 
such  a  name."  says  Dr.  Barnes, 
"  Avould  not  proA'e  that  he  had  a  di- 
vine nature,"  especially,  Ave  might 
add,  Avhen  there  is  no  evidence  that 
he  CA'^er  bore  the  name.  It  does, 
hoAvever,  unquestionabl}'-  describe 
the  mission  of  our  Saviour,  in  Avhom 
God  Avas  Avith  us,  manifesting  him- 
self in  the  flesh,  and  reconciling  the 
Avorld  to  himself.  The  JeAvs  Avere 
in  the  habit  of  giving  significant  ti- 
tles to  their  great  men.  Thus  the 
original  name  of  Joshua  Avas  O.-^hea 
or  Saviour,  and  Moses,  Num.  xiii.  16, 
called  liim  Jehoshua,  Avhich  means 
the  salvation  of  God.  FJi  moans  .lAy 
God;  Elijah,  ^fy  God  Jthovuh  ;  Eli- 
sha,  God  the  Saviour.  iJo.   her 

first-born  son]  Tischendorf,  in 
conformity  Avith  the  reading  in  some 
of  the  best  manuscripts,  leaves  out 
the  Avord  frst-born ;  but  Alford  re- 
tains it,  with  the  remark  that  the 
omission  "  Avas  evidently  made  from 
superstitious  veneration  for  Ma- 
ry." The  perpetual  virginitv  of 
the  mother  of  Jesus,  as  held  by 
the  Roman  Catholic  Chm-ch,  is  not 
implied  or  iutiniuted  here  by  either 
reading. 


MATTHEW   II.    1-12.  45 


CHAPTER    II. 

1-12.  —  Visit  of  the  AVisp:  Men,  or  Magi. 

The  remarkable  event  in  this  chapter,  at  least  that  which 
gives  the  greatest  trouble  to  those  who  would  understand 
in  all  its  bearings  every  particular  connected  with  the  Gos- 
pel  narratives,  is  the  visit  of  the  Magi,  or  wise  men,  under 
the  guidance  of  a  star,  or  some  extraordinary  luminous 
appearance  in  the  heavens.  A  vast  deal  of  learning  has 
been  expended  upon  the  subject  without  coming  to  any 
satisfactory  results.  It  has  never  been  definitely  ascer- 
tained who  these  wise  men  were,  or  what  was  the  precise 
appearance  in  the  heavens  that  brought  them  to  Bethlehem. 
All  that  can  be  learned  is,  that  there  was  at  that  time  a 
widely  extended  expectation  in  the  East  of  the  birth,  in 
that  part  of  the  world,  of  some  one  who  was  to  have  an 
extraordinary  influence  on  human  affairs.  Jews,  in  their 
various  national  misfortunes,  and  the  migrations  consequent 
upon  them,  had  mingled  as  permanent  residents  with  the 
people  beyond  their  eastern  borders.  They  had  undoubt- 
edly carried  with  them  their  religious  notions,  and  par- 
ticularly the  prophetic  expectations  of  the  Messiah,  which 
had  entered  so  deeply  into  the  heart  of  the  nation.  Their 
ablest  and  wisest  men  would  naturally  be  brought  into 
connection  with  the  corresponding  classes  whom  they  might 
meet  in  foreign  lands,  and  in  the  interchange  of  ideas  with 
one  another  whatever  was  most  remarkable  in  the  science 
or  religious  systems  of  either  would  become  the  common 
property  of  all.  Thus  there  may  have  been  in  those  Eastern 
regions  men  of  devout  and  earnest  hearts,  waiting  anxiously 


46  MATTHEW    II.    1-15^. 

for  pome  new  manifestation  from  Heaven,  and  for  pome 
new  and  higher  agency  to  go  forth  amid  the  confused  and 
otherwise  hopeless  affairs  of  the  world.  When  the  fulness 
of  time  had  come,  a  sign  was  given  to  them.  As,  to  the 
shepherds  at  Bethlehem,  who  as  Jews  were  accustomed  to 
the  idea  of  angelic  ministrations,  a  vision  of  angels  an- 
nounced the  birth  of  the  Messiah,  so  to  the  Magi,  who 
were  accustomed  to  look  to  the  heavenly  bodies  for  por- 
tents of  earthly  changes,  a  star  or  other  brilliant  light  in 
heaven  was  given  as  an  indication  of  the  great  event  for 
which  they  had  been  waiting.  Probably  they  had  already 
fixed  on  Judaea,  and  of  course  on  Jerusalem,  the  capital  of 
Judcea,  as  the  scene  of  the  long-expected  events.  The 
often  quoted  passages  from  the  Roman  historians,  Suetonius 
and  Tacitus,  both  refer  to  Judaea  as  the  place  from  which, 
according  to  expectations  generally  prevalent  in  the  East, 
a  man  was  destined,  about  that  time,  to  come  and  obtain 
the  empire  of  the  world.  Pliny  not  improbably  had  refer- 
ence to  something  of  the  same  kind  in  calling  Jerusalem 
(H.  N.,  1.  5,  c.  15)  "by  far  the  most  illustrious  city,  not 
only  of  Judiea,  but  of  the  East,"  since  in  outward  splendor 
it  was  greatly  inferior  to  other  Eastern  cities.  The  place, 
therefore,  was  fixed  and  known.  When  the  unusual  ap- 
pearance in  the  sky  was  seen,  which  the  wise  men  ac- 
cepted as  a  signal  to  announce  the  birth  of  the  expected 
deliverer,  they  knew  at  once  to  what  place  it  would  lead 
them.  Carrying  the  gifts  which,  with  their  Eastern  ideas 
and  habits,  they  regarded  as  most  worthy  to  be  offered  on 
such  a  visit,  they  hastened  to  Jerusalem,  and  made  known 
the  object  of  their  journey. 

The  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  were  deeply  moved  by  the 
report  of  their  coming.  The  hoary -headed  monarch,  whose 
long  reign  of  cruelty  and  blood  was  soon  to  find  a  fitting 
termination  in  the  horrible  and  loathsome  disease  which 
closed  his  miserable  life,  had,  of  course,  his  cruel  suspicions 
excited  by  any  reference  at   that  time  to  the  birth  of  a 


MATTHEW   II.    1-12.  47 

king.  Only  a  short  time  before,  more  than  six  thousand 
of  the  Pharisees  (Josephus,  Ant.  17.  2.  4)  had  refused  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  him,  and  foretold  "  how  God  had  de- 
creed that  his  government  should  cease,  and  his  posterity 
be  deprived  of  it."  He  put  to  death  their  leading  men  ; 
but,  sitting  on  a  throne  to  which  as  a  foreigner  he  could 
have  no  rightful  claim,  the  Iduma^an  Herod  was  not  the 
man  to  forget  their  predictions,  or  anything  else  that  might 
stand  in  the  way  of  his  regal  power  and  its  continuance 
in  his  family.  But  it  would  not  do  to  let  his  fears  be 
known.  Cloaking,  therefore,  his  murderous  intention  under 
an  affectation  of  reverence  for  the  predicted  Messiah,  he 
called  together  the  chief  priests  and  the  scribes,  who  as 
teachers  of  the  law  were  most  thoroughly  versed  in  the 
sacred  writings,  and  asked  them  where  the  Christ,  or  the 
Messiah,  was  to  be  bora. 

The  inquest  which  he  made,  and  the  manner  in  which 
it  was  received  and  answered,  prove  how  general  and  how 
strong  among  the  Jews  the  expectations  of  the  Messiah 
were.  The  leading  minds  of  the  nation  evidently  felt, 
themselves  to  be  on  the  eve  of  the  extraordinary  series 
of  events  which  had  been  foretold  by  their  prophets  centu- 
ries before,  and  which  had  always  been  kept  up  in  the 
expectations  of  the  people. 

Having  learned  the  particular  place  of  the  Messiah's 
birth,  the  wise  men  set  out  for  Bethlehem.  While  on  their 
way,  they  were  gladdened  exceedingly  by  seeing  again  the 
star  which  they  had  seen  while  in  the  East,  and  which 
now  showed  itself  in  such  a  direction  that  it  seemed  to 
be  leading  them  forward,  till  on  their  reaching  the  place 
it  appeared  to  stand  over  the  spot  where  the  young  child 
was.  The  expression,  "to  stand  over  a  place,"  in  its  ap- 
plication to  a  heavenly  body,  was  not  foreign  to  ancient 
modes  of  speech.  Josephus,  in  enumerating  the  portents 
which  went  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  speaks 
of  a  comet  which  "stood  over  the  city,"  in  precisely  the 
same  form  of  words  that  is  here  applied  to  the  star. 


48  MATTHEW    II.    1-12. 

Bethlehem  was  a  small  town  six  or  seven  miles  south 
of  Jerusalem,  but  endeared  to  the  Jewish  heart  by  many 
precious  historical  associations.  Within  its  limits,  on  the 
Avay  to  Jerusalem,  Rachel,  the  favorite  wife  of  Jacob,  had 
died  and  was  buried.  There  was  the  scene  of  most  of 
the  affecting  events  recorded  in  the  beautiful  pastoral  of 
Ruth.  There  was  the  residence  of  Jesse,  and  there  the 
genius  and  the  devotions  of  David  had  been  called  out 
while  tending  his  father's  flocks  amid  its  hills.  There,  by 
the  consecrating  oil  of  the  aged  Samuel  he  had  been  set 
apart  for  the  kingly  office.  And  there,  five  hundred  years 
later,  according  to  Jewish  traditions,  but  we  know  not  on 
what  authority,  Avas  the  birthplace  of  Zerubbabel,  who  led 
back  the  captive  Jews  from  Babylon,  and  rebuilt  their 
temple. 

Bethlehem  abounds  in  high  hills,  from  which  the  Dead 
Sea,  and  the  mountains  beyond  its  eastern  shore,  are  visi- 
ble. Some  have  supposed  that  the  star  which  attracted 
the  wise  men  in  the  East  was  the  luminous  appearance 
(the  glory  of  the  Lord  shining  round  about  them)  which 
the  shepherds,  Luke  ii.  9,  saw  on  the  night  of  the  nativity, 
and  which  from  those  lofty  hills  might  have  been  seen 
far  to  the  eastward.  But  this  will  not  account  for  the 
star  which  the  Magi  saw  on  reaching  Bethlehem.  Some 
have  supposed  that  it  was  a  comet;  others,  and  Trench 
among  them,  have  thought  that  it  was  a  peculiar  star, 
like  that  which  shone  out  suddenly  in  Cassiopeia,  Novem- 
ber 11,  1572,  and  which,  after  surpassing  in  apparent  size 
all  the  fixed  stars,  and  even  the  planet  Jupiter,  being 
sometimes  distinctly  seen  at  midday,  gradually  decreased, 
till,  sixteen  months  after  it  was  first  seen,  it  seemed  to 
go  out  entirely,  and  no  traces  of  it  have  been  discov- 
ered since.  This  star  was  observed  and  reported  by 
Tycho  Brahe,  the  most  illustrious  astronomical  observer  of 
his  day.  Another  star,  yet  more  remarkable,  appeared  in 
1604,  at  the  same  time  with,  and  in  the  immediate  neigh- 


MATTHEW    II.    1-12.  49 

borliood  of,  a  remarkable  conjunction  of  the  planets  Saturn, 
Jupiter,  and  Mars,  —  "  such  a  conjunction,"  says  Trench,  (in 
his  "  Star  of  the  Wise  Men,"  p.  32,)  "as,  occurring  at  rarest 
intervals,  must  yet  have  occurred  as  regarded  the  first  two 
planets  in  747,  and  all  three  in  748  A.  U.  C. ;  in  years, 
that  is,  either  of  them  very  likely  to  have  been,  and  one 
of  which  most  probably  was,  the  true  Annus  Domini." 

But  these  speculations,  though  they  may  possibly  j^oint 
to  a  true  solution  of  the  phenomena  in  question,  do  not 
seem  to  us  of  much  consequence.  "With  the  birth  of  Christ 
we  are  introduced  into  a  sphere  of  higher  than  material 
agencies.  From  the  first  inception  of  his  earthly  being,  in 
the  overshadowing  power  and  spirit  of  the  Most  High,  to 
the  time  when  he  "  was  taken  up  "  from  his  disciples,  "  and 
a  cloud  received  him  out  of  their  sight,"  Jesus  was  at- 
tended by  powers  which  come  not  usually  within  the  cog- 
nizance of  the  senses,  and  of  which  our  natural  philoso- 
phy, limited  as  it  is  by  the  observation  of  physical  facts 
through  the  senses,  can  render  no  adequate  account.  They 
belong  to  a  province  of  divine  agencies  into  which  we 
have  not  been  permitted  to  enter  far  enough  to  be  able 
to  speak  with  any  certainty  of  the  conditions  or  the  ex- 
tent of  their  influence  on  human  affairs  or  the  material 
universe.  When  once  we  are  brought,  as  we  are  by  the 
life  of  Jesus,  into  the  realm  of  miraculous  manifestations, 
it  is  idle  to  attempt  to  explain  them  by  principles  drawn 
from  the  narrow  and  unwieldy  phenomena  of  physical  sci- 
ence. 

The  anniversary  of  the  wise  men  offering  their  gifts  to 
the  infant  Jesus  has  been  celebrated  in  most  Christian 
churches  as  the  Epiphany,  or  manifestation  of  Christ  to 
the  Gentiles.  The  wise  men  are  regarded  by  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  as  kings  who  came  from  different  parts 
of  India,  and  to  them  has  been  applied  the  language  of 
the  seventy-second  Psalm,  "  The  kings  of  Sheba  and  Seba 
shall  offer  gifts,"  "  and  to  him  shall  be  given  of  the  gold 

5  D 


50  MATTHEW    11.    16 -IS. 

of  Sheba,"  Each  of  the  gifts  also  has  its  mystical  signifi- 
cation,—  the  gold,  a  royal  offering,  indicating  his  kingly 
office,  the  frankincense  denoting  his  heavenly  origin,  and 
the  myrrh  (in  about  a  hundred  pounds  of  myrrh  and  aloes 
his  body  afterwards  was  laid,  John  xix.  39)  prefiguring 
his  death.  These  are  fanciful  interpretations,  but  probably 
they  come  nearer  to  the  reverential  feeling  which  they 
were  employed  to  express,  than  any  meaning  that  we  can 
arrive  at  through  the  researches  of  natural  history.  In 
all  ages  of  the  world,  especially  in  those  Eastern  regions, 
the  devout  and  lowly  in  heart  have  delighted  in  offering 
up  whatever  was  most  beautiful  and  precious,  as  a  token 
of  inward  reverence  and  affection.  In  this  way  gold  and 
gems  and  precious  gums  and  ointments  became  invested 
with  hallowed  associations,  and  spoke  to  the  soul  with  a 
grace  and  charm  that  we  in  our  cold  climate  can  poorly 
comprehend.  A  Judas  might  count  the  pecuniary  cost  of 
such  gifts,  and  wise  men  in  our  day,  whose  wisdom  is 
wholly  absorbed  in  estimating  their  outward  value,  may 
exclaim  about  the  waste  in  matters  of  sentiment.  But  the 
Saviour  has  recognized  in  such  gifts  a  deeper  and  holier 
worth  than  any  merely  pecuniary  value,  even  though  it 
were  to  be  expended  upon  the  poor. 

16-18.  —  Murder  of  the  Children  in  Bethlehem. 

The  account  of  the  murder  of  the  innocents  has  been 
set  aside  as  unhistorical,  because  it  is  mentioned  by  no 
other  historian,  and  because  it  has  been  thought  to  be 
a  crime  too  foolish  and  too  atrocious  even  for  the  crafty 
and  cruel  Herod.  But  the  craftiest  men  are  often  taken 
in  their  own  craftiness.  Their  roundabout,  underhanded, 
complicated  plans  for  the  accomplishment  of  what  might 
be  done  so  much  more  easily  by  some  direct  means,  often 
fail  of  their  purpose,  and  in  the  result  appear  like  folly. 
"Any  one,"  says  Trench,   "who  is  acquainted   with,  and 


MATTHEW    II.    16  -  18.  51 

calls  to  mind,  the  cruel  precautions  of  Eastern  monarchs, 
in  times  past  and  present,  in  regard  of  possible  competi- 
tors for  their  throne,  often  making  an  entire  desolation, 
even  of  their  own  kindred  round  them,  will  see  in  this 
what  many  an  Eastern  monarch  would  have  done,  —  what 
certainly  a  Herod  would  not  have  shrunk  from  doing." 
His  jealousy,  which  had  been  excited  by  the  errand  of  the 
wise  men,  was  changed  to  rage  when  he  found  that  they 
had  eluded,  and,  as  he  proudly  considered  it,  "mocked" 
him.  He  determined  therefore,  in  his  wrath,  to  secure 
the  destruction  which  he  had  designed  for  one  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Bethlehem  by  a  summary  act  of  vengeance  on  all. 
This  was  entirely  in  keeping  with  all  that  we  know  of 
Herod.  "  The  man,"  says  Trench,  "  who  could  put  his 
wife  and  three  of  his  own  sons  to  death,  who  made  a  soli- 
tude round  him  by  the  slaughter  of  so  many  of  his  friends, 
who  could  kill,  under  semblance  of  sport,  as  he  did,  the 
youthful  high-priest,  Aristobulus ;  who,  when  he  was  him- 
self dying  by  horrible  and  loathsome  diseases,  so  far  from 
being  softened,  or  owning  the  hand  of  God,  which  every 
one  else  saw  therein,  could  devise  such  a  devilish  wicked- 
ness as  that  narrated  by  Josephus,  to  secure  weeping  and 
lamentation  at  his  death,*  would  have  had  little  scruple 
in  conceiving  or  carrying  out  an  iniquity  such  as  the  sacred 
historian  lays  here  to  liis-  charge."  Nor  would  the  crime 
be  one  of  so  remarkable  a  character  that  historians  like 
Tacitus  or  Josephus  would  be  unlikely  to  omit  it  in  their 


*  According  to  Josephus,  Antiq.,  Lib.  XVII.  c.  6,  s.  6-8,  "  It  troubled  him 
greatly  to  anticipate  the  joy  which  there  Avould  be  among  the  Jews  at 
his  death ;  and  with  the  purpose  of  turning  this  joy  into  weeping,  he  got 
together  from  every  city  the  chief  personages  of  the  land,  whom  he  shut 
up  in  the  Hippodrome  of  Jericho,  where  he  lay  dying.  He  then  obtained 
a  promise  from  his  sister  Salome  and  her  husband,  that,  the  instant  he 
expired,  these  all  should  be  slain,  so  that,  although  none  wept  and  la- 
mented him,  there  should  yet  be  abundant  weeping  and  lamentation  at 
his  death.  His  intentions  were  not  better  fulfilled  than  those  of  tp-ants 
after  their  deaths  commonly  are." 


52  MATTIIEAV    II.    6,    15. 

imperfect  catalogue  of  his  crimes.  The  act  was  one  of 
no  i^ohtical  imjDortance.  The  number  of  children  mur- 
dered has  been  greatly  exaggerated  in  the  popular  mind. 
"  From  two  years  old,  and  under,"  in  the  Jewish  mode 
of  reckoning,  probably  means,  downward  from  those  who 
have  entered  on  their  second  year,  or,  as  we  should  say, 
under  one  year  old.  In  a  small  place  like  Bethlehem 
they  could  hardly  have  numbered  more  than  ten  or  fifteen, 
and  these  might  have  been  put  out  of  the  way  without 
any  public  commotion  by  the  practised  and  accomplished 
agents  of  a  tyrant  like  Herod. 

Quotations  from  the  Prophets. 

G.  The  references  to  the  Old  Testament  in  this  chapter  are 
Avorthy  of  notice.  The  quotation  here  from  Micah  v.  2 
is  given,  not  merely  as  an  important  historical  fact  in  its 
relation  to  the  inquiries  of  Herod,  but  as  showing  that 
the  great  Jewish  council,  or  Sanhedrim  at  Jerusalem,  com- 
posed of  the  chief  priests  and  the  men  most  learned  in 
the  law,  had  fixed  on  Bethlehem,  Avhere  Jesus  had  just 
been  born,  as  the  birthplace  of  the  jMessiah.  The  ancient 
prophet,  therefore,  as  interpreted  by  the  highest  relig- 
ious authority  recognized  among  the  Jews,  accorded  with 
the  writer  as  to  the  place  of  the  Messiah's  birth.  This 
must  at  the  outset  have  had  great  weight  with  those  whose 
favorable  attention  Matthew  wished  particularly  to  gain. 
It  is  not  Ms  opinion  of  the  application  of  the  prophecy 
that  is  given,  but  the  deliberately  expressed  opinion  of 
those  whom  they  looked  up  to  as  their  authorized  teachers 
in  such  matters.     See  John  vii.  42. 

15.  The  second  quotation,  "  Out  of  Egypt  have  I  called 
my  Son,''  Hos.  xi.  1,  is  given  as  one  of  the  coincidences 
in  language  and  in  fact  which  could  not  but  strike  those 
who  regarded  both  as  sacred,  and  who  thus  through  their 
relijjious    associations   would    be    led    on    in    the    narrative 


MATTHEW    II.    17,    18.  53 

with  less  violent  antipathies.  "Whether  Israel,  (whom  God 
here  calls  his  son,)  coming  up  out  of  Egypt  to  receive  and  to 
perpetuate  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God  through  the  laws 
and  institutions  appointed  by  him,  was  or  was  not  held  forth 
by  the  25i*ophet  as  a  type  of  that  greater  Son  of  God  now 
coming  from  Egypt,  who  was  to  exercise  a  yet  mightier 
influence  in  the  advancement  of  God's  kingdom  through 
the  earth,  is  of  little  consequence,  so  far  as  the  writer's 
purpose  or  the  pertinency  of  the  quotation  is  concerned. 

17,  18.  The  third  quotation  is  from  Jeremiah  xxxi.  15. 
Jerusalem  had  been  taken  and  destroyed  by  Nebuzaradan. 
The  Jewish  nobles  had  been  slain,  and  after  the  sons  of 
the  king,  Zedekiah,  had  been  murdered  in  his  sight,  his 
own  eyes  were  put  out.  The  people  were  gathered  together 
in  chains  at  Ramah,  a  city  of  Ephraim,  probably  about  six 
miles  northward  from  Jerusalem,  whence  they  were  to  be- 
gin their  wearisome  and  sorrowful  journey  towards  Babylon, 
the  land  of  their  long  captivity.  The  prophet  Jeremiah, 
who  had  been  one  of  the  captives,  and  who  is  now  pre- 
dicting the  joyful  return  of  his  people  from  their  bondage, 
contrasts  their  future  gladness  with  the  feelings  of  that 
dismal  day  when  they  were  taking  their  departure  from 
Ramah  with  such  lamentation  and  bitter  weeping,  that  it 
seemed  as  if  Rachel,  the  wife  of  their  common  ancestor, 
were  there,  as  a  mother,  weeping  for  her  children,  and  re- 
fusing to  be  comforted  because  they  were  not.  This  strik- 
ing and  beautiful  figure  the  Evangelist  has  transferred  to 
Bethlehem,  to  represent  the  lamentation,  weeping,  and  great 
mourning  caused  by  the  murder  of  the  children.  The 
image  of  Rachel  rising  from  her  tomb  and  weeping  there 
is  rendered  more  appropriate  by  the  fact  that  her  grave 
was  near  Bethlehem,  in  the  midst  of  those  who  had  been 
sacrificed  by  that  barbarous  act  of  cruelty.  Whether  Jere- 
miah used  language  which,  besides  describing  the  sorrows 
at  Ramah  and  tlie  joyful  return  of  the  Jews  from  Babylon, 
pointed  on  in  prophetic  vision  to  the  sorrows  of  Bethlehem, 

5* 


54  MATTHEW    II.    23. 

and  the  more  joyful  deliverance  whicli  should  thence  ensue, 
is  not  clearly  announced,  though  the  chapter,  taken  as  a 
"whole,  seems  to  abound  in  words  expressive  of  a  grandeur 
and  magnificence  too  rich  and  vast  to  find  their  entire  ful- 
filment in  the  restoration  of  the  Jews  from  Babylon.  There 
is  n'othing  distinctly  said  in  the  Gospel  beyond  the  appli- 
cation of  the  passage  to  the  mourning  at  Bethlehem ;  but 
if  the  Jews  regarded  it  as  being  in  some  sense  one  of 
their  Messianic  prophecies,  the  few  words  quoted  might 
carry  their  minds  unconsciously  on,  from  the  parallel  be- 
tween the  sorrows  at  Ramah  and  at  Bethlehem,  to  the 
higher  coincidence  between  the  joys  of  the  deliverance 
from  the  captivity  at  Babylon  and  the  grander  deliverance 
for  which  they  were  looking  forward  to  the  Messiah.  The 
force  of  such  allusions  comes  through  the  fine  but  power- 
ful associations  which  cannot  be  expressed  in  words,  far 
more  than  through  any  direct  or  logical  appeal  to  the  un- 
derstanding. 

Dr.  W.  M.  Thomson,  in  his  work  on  Palestine,  says  (Vol. 
II.  p.  503)  in  regard  to  this  quotation:  "  The  poetic  accom- 
modation of  Jeremiah  was  natural  and  beautiful.  Of  course 
it  is  accommodation.  The  prophet  himself  had  no  thought 
of  Herod  and  the  slaughter  of  the  infants."  That  is,  in 
his  opinion  (and  the  facts  of  the  case,  as  far  as  known, 
certainly  go  to  sustain  him  in  it),  the  language  of  Jere- 
miah is  here  quoted,  not  as  a  prediction  of  this  event, 
but  merely  as  furnishing  words  Avhich  describe  the  sharp- 
ness of  the  sorrow  caused  by  Herod's  cruelty. 

23.  The  fourth  apparent  quotation  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment is  of  a  different  kind.  "  That  it  might  be  fulfilled 
Avhich  was  spoken  by  the  prophets,  '  He  shall  be  called 
a  Kazarone.'  '*  No  such  passage  is  to  be  found  in  the  Old 
Testament.  Dr.  Palfrey  supposes  that  the  reference  is  to 
Judges  xiii.  5,  "  He  shall  be  a  Nazarite."  Tischendorf 
makes  the  reference  to  Isaiah  xi.  1,  where  the  word 
translated  Branch  is    in    Hebrew  Netser  or  Nazer.      But 


MATTHEW    II.  55 

the  term  Nazarene  was  one  of  contempt  and  disgrace,  as 
the  place,  and  everything  belonging  to  it,  John  i.  46,  were 
despised  among  the  Jews.  When,  therefore,  St.  Matthew 
speaks  of  Jesus  as  dwelling  in  Nazareth,  and  of  course 
bearing  the  despised  name  of  Nazarene,  he  would  soften 
the  jirejudice  thus  awakened,  by  intimating,  though  in  ob- 
scure terms,  that  even  thus  he  was  fulfilling  in  himself 
what  had  been  spoken  by  the  prophets  of  the  Messiah,  as 
one  despised  and  rejected  of  men.  The  form  of  speech, 
"  by  the  prophets,"  is  unlike  that  which  occurs  anywhere 
else  in  the  Gospels  when  a  quotation  is  made  from  a  par- 
ticular Avriter,  and  of  itself  would  seem  to  imply  that  an 
idea  expressed  by  different  prophets,  rather  than  the  spe- 
cific language  of  any  one  writer,  was  what  was  referred 
to  as  fulfilled  in  Jesus,  Avhen  he  was  called  by  that  mean 
and  offensive  name.  This  is  the  interpretation  given  by 
Kuinoel,  Olshausen,  Trench,  and  others,  and  seems  to  us 
more  natural  than  any  other.  But  we  are  too  far  re- 
moved from  the  times  and  habits  of  the  writer,  and  those 
for  whom  he  wrote,  to  speak  with  certainty  of  allusions 
which  appealed  so  delicately  to  their  finer  sensibilities 
through  the  associations  growing  out  of  their  religious 
culture 


NOTES. 

Now  when  Jesus  was  born  in  Bethlehem  of  Judsea,  in  the  days 

of  Herod  the  king,  behold,  there  came  wise  men  from  the  east 

2  to  Jerusalem,    saying,  Where  is  he  that  is  born  King  of  the 

1.  Herod  the  king]  "  Herod  the  days  after  he  had  put  to  death  his 

Great,  son  of  Antipater,  an  Iduma^an  son  Antipater,  in  the  seventieth  year 

by  an  Arabian  mother,  made  king  of  his  age  and  the  thirty-eighth  of 

of  Judaea  on  occasion  of  his  having  his   reign,   and   the    750th   year  of 

fled  to  Rome,  being  driven  from  his  Rome.      The   events    here    related 

tetrarcliy  by  the  pretender  Antigo-  took  place  a  short  time  before  his 

mis,  and  confirmed  in  his  office  by  death."     Alford.  2.  Where 

Augustus  Caesar  after  the  battle  of  is  he  that  is  born  King  of  the 

Actium.     He  died  miserably,  five  Jews  ?]    "  There  had  prevailed  in 


56 


MATTHEW    II. 


Jews  ?  for  we  have  seen  his  star  in  the  east,  and  are  come  to 
worship  him.  "When  Herod  the  king  had  heard  these  things, 
he  was  troubled,  and  all  Jerusalem  with  him ;  and  when  he 
had  gathered  all  the  chief  priests  and  scribes  of  the  people 
together,  he  demanded  of  them  where  Christ  should  be  born. 
And  they  said  unto  him,  In  Bethlehem  of  Judtea ;  for  thus  it 
is  written  by  the  prophet :  "  And  thou,  Be'thlehem,  in  the  land 
of  Juda,  art  not  the  least  among  the  princes  of  Juda ;  for 
out  of  thee  shall  come  a  Governor,  that  shall  rule  my  people 
Israel.'*  Then  Herod,  when  he  had  privily  called  the  wise 
men,  inquired  of  them  diligently  what  time  the  star  appeared, 
and  he  sent  them  to  Bethlehem,  and  said  :  Go  and  search  dili- 
gently for  the  young  child  ;  and  when  ye  have  found  him, 
bring  me  word  again,  that  I  may  come  and  worship  him  also. 
When  they  had  heard  the  king,  they  departed.     And,  lo,  the 


all  tlie  East  an  ancient  and  con- 
stant expectation  that,  according  to 
the  fates,  men  comina:  from  '  Judrea 
should  rule  the  -world,'  rerwn  poti- 
rentur."  Suetonius,  Yesp.  c.  4. 
"  ]\Iany  had  been  persuaded  that  it 
was  contained  in  the  ancient  Avrit- 
inor-  of  the  priests,  that  the  East 
should  prevail,  and  that  men  com- 
ing from  Judiea  should  rule  the 
w6rld."     Tacitus,  Hist.  V.  13. 

to  worship  him]  "  To  do 
homage  to  him  in  the  Eastern  fash- 
ion of  prostration."  Alford. 
2.  Some  readers  may  be  interested 
in  the  following  statement,  which  is 
borrowed  from  astronomical  calcu- 
lations, by  Alford:  —  "In  the  year 
of  Home '747,  on  the  20th  of  May, 
there  was  a  conjunction  of  Jupiter 
and  Saturn  in  the  twentieth  degree 
of  the  constellation  Pisces,  close  to 
the  first  point  of  Aries,  which  was 
the  part  of  the  heavens  noted  in  as- 
trological science  as  that  in  Avhich 
the  signs  denoted  the  greatest  and 
most  noble  events.  On  the  27th  of 
October,  in  tlic  same  year,  another 
conjunction  of  the  same  planets  took 
place,  in  the  sixteenth  degree  of 
risces;  and  on  the  12th  of  Novem- 
ber a  third,  in  the  fifteenth  degree 
of  the  same  sign.  On  these  last  two 
occasions  the  planets  were  so  near, 
that  an  ordinary  eye  would  regard 


them  as  one  star  of  surpassing 
brightness.  Supposing  the  magi  to 
have  seen  the^rsf  of  tliese  conjunc- 
tions, they  saw  it  actually  '  in  the 
east;'  for  on  the  20th  of  ^lay  it 
would  rise  shortly  before  the  sun. 
If  they  then  took  their  journey,  and 
arrived  at  Jerusalem  in  a  little  more 
than  five  months,  (the  journey  from 
Babylon  took  Ezra  four  months,  see 
Ezra  vii.  9,)  if  they  performed  the 
route  from  Jerusale'm  to  Bethlehem 
in  the  evening,  as  is  implied,  the  No- 
vember conjiuiction  in  the  fifteenth 
degree  of  Pisces  Avould  be  before 
them  in  the  direction  of  Bethlehem, 
coming  to  the  meridian  about  eight 
o'clock,  P.  M.  These  circumstan- 
ces would  seem  to  form  a  remarka- 
ble coincidence  with  the  history  in 
our  text."  4.  And  when 

he  [Herod]  had  gathered  all  the 
chief  priests  and  scribes  of  the 
people  together]  This  was  prob- 
ably a  meeting  of  the  Jewish  San- 
hedrim, which  consisted  of  seventy- 
one  members,  and  was  at  that  time 
the  highest  religious  tribunal  known 
among  the  Jcavs,  being  composed  of 
priests,  Levitcs,  and  Israelites.  The 
scribes  were  the  teachers  and  inter- 
preters of  the  law.  fl.  And 
thou,  Bethlehem]  This  free  ver- 
sion of  !Micah  v.  2  is  given  as  the 
report  or  answer  of  the  Sanhedrim 


MATTHEW    II.  57 

star,  wliicli  they  saw  In  the  east,  went  before  tliem,  till  it  came 

10  and  stood  over  where  the  young  child  was.     When  they  saw 

11  the  star,  they  rejoiced  with  exceeding  great  joy ;  and  when 
they  were  come  Into  the  house,  they  saw  the  young  child  with 
Mary  his  mother,  and  fell  down,  and  worshipped  him ;  and 
when  they  had  opened  their  treasures,  they  presented  unto 

12  him  gifts,  gold  and  frankincense  and  myrrh.  And  being 
warned  of  God  in  a  dream  that  they  should  not  return  to 
Herod,  they  departed  into  their  own  country  another  way. 

13  And  when  they  were  departed,  behold,  the  angel  of  the  Lord 
appeareth  to  Joseph  in  a  dream,  saying :  Arise,  and  take  the 
young  child  and  his  mother,  and  flee  into  Egypt,  and  be  thou 
there  until  I  bring  thee  word  ;  for  Herod  will  seek  the  young 

14  child  to  destroy  him.     When  he  arose,  he  took  the  young  child 

15  and  his  mother  by  night,  and  departed  Into  Egypt ;  and  was 
there  until  the  death  of  Herod ;  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which 
was  spoken  of  the  Lord  by  the  prophet,  saying :    "  Out  of 

16  Egypt  have  I  called  my  Son."  Then  Herod,  when  he  saw 
that  he  was  mocked  of  the  wise  men,  was  exceeding  wroth ; 
and  sent  forth  and  slew  all  the  children  that  were  in  Bethle- 
hem, and  in  all  the  coasts  thereof,  from  two  years  old  and 
under,  according  to  the  time  which  he  had  diligently  inquired 

17  of  the  wise  men.     Then  was  fulfilled  that  which  was  spoken  by 
IS  Jeremy  the  prophet,  saying:    "In  Eama  was  there  a  voice 

heard,  lamentation,  and  weejiing,  and  great  mourning ;  Rachel 
weeping  for  her  children,  and  would  not  be  comforted,  because 

19  they  are  not."     But  when  Herod  was  dead,  behold,  an  angel 

20  of  the  Lord  appeareth  in  a  dream  to  Joseph  in  Egypt,  saying : 
Arise,  and  take  the  young  child  and  his  mother,  and  go  into 
the  land  of  Israel ;  for  they  are  dead  which  sought  the  young 

21  child's  life.     And  he  arose,  and  took  the  young  child  and  his 

22  mother,  and  came  into  the  land  of  Israel.     But  when  he  heard 


to  Herod.  9.  the  star]    "  If  ular  language  is  so  universally  in- 

it  is  to  be  understood  as  standing  accurate,    and    the     Scriptures    so 

over  the  house,  and  thus  indicating  generally  use  popular  language,  it 

to  the  maf^i  tlie  position  of  the  ob-  is   surelv  not  the    letter,  "but    the 

ject  of  their  search,  the  whole  inci-  spirit  ol^  the  nan-ative  with  which 

dent  must  be  i-egarded  as  miracu-  we   are  concerned.'"      Alford. 
lous.     But  this  is  not  necessarily  14.   and  departed  into 

implied,  even  if  the  -words  of  the  Egypt]   where,  at   no   very   great 

text  be  litei-ally  imdcrstood;  and  in  distance  from  Jerusalem,  and  witli- 

a  matter  like  astronomy,  where  pop-  in  a  Eoman  province,  he  would  be 


58 


MATTIIEAV    IT. 


that  Arclielaus  did  reign  in  Judsea,  in  the  room  of  his  father 
Herod,  he  was  afraid  to  go  thither;  notwithstanding,  being 
warned  of  God  in  a  dream,  he  turned  aside  into  the  parts  of 
Galilee.     And  he  came  and  dwelt  in  a  city  called  Nazareth ;  23 


safely  beyond  Herod's  jurisdiction. 
'22.  Archelaus]  succeed- 
ed his  father,  and  at  first  claimed 
to  be  a  king;  but  he  never  had  the 
title  of  king  conferred  upon  him  by 
the  Iioman  Emperor.  In  the  ninth 
year  of  his  government  he  was  re- 
moved from  office.  23.  And 
he  came  and  dwelt  in  a  city 
called  Nazareth]  Had  we  only 
this  Gospel,  "vve  should  certainly 
infer  that  Joseph  and  ilary  had 
previously  lived  in  Bethlehem,  and 
now  Avent  into  Galilee  to  reside  as 
in  a  strange  place,  while  Luke  (ii.  4, 
39)  speaks  of  them  as  coming  up 
from  Nazareth  to  Bethlehem  imme- 
diately befoi-e  the  birth  of  Jesus, 
and  retiu-ning  again  to  Nazareth,  ap- 
parently without  any  delay  after 
the  rites  of  purification  had  been 
perfonned,  which,  according  to  the 
law,  Avould  be  forty  days  after  his 
birth.  How  is  this  account  of 
Luke's  to  be  reconciled  Avith  Mat- 
thew's account  of  the  flight  into 
Egypt,  Avhich  covered  the  whole 
time  between  the  birth  of  Jesus  and 
the  death  of  Herod  ?  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  determine  how  long  a  time 
that  was,  because  it  cannot  be  de- 
termined with  certaintv  in  what 
year  Jesus  was  bora.  I^ut  on  any 
hypotliesis  it  is  difficult  to  recon- 
cile the  accounts  of  the  two  Evan- 
gelists. The  magi  could  hardly 
have  reached  Bethlehem  before  the 
purification  in  the  temple;  for  the 
remarkable  circumstances  connect- 
ed with  that  event  (Luke  ii.  22-30) 
must  in  that  case  have  attracted  the 
now  awakened  and  jealoiis  atten- 
tion of  Herod.  Both  the  visit  of  the 
magi  and  the  residence  in  Egypt 
then  probably  occurred  after  the 
purification  and  before  the  return 
to  Nazareth.  But  if  Luke  had  been 
aware  of  these  events,  would  he 
have  omitted  all  notice  of  them? 
Does  his  account,  "  And  when  they 
had  performed  all  things  according 
to  the  law  of  the  Lord,  they  re- 


turned into  Galilee,  to  their  own  city, 
Nazareth,"  leave  room  for  the  iii- 
tervening  residence  in  Egypt?  The 
subject  will  be  ni-re  fully  discussed 
when  we  come  to  treat  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  Luke.  In  the  mean  time,  it  is 
well  to  remember,  that,  in  these  very 
brief  and  rapid  sketches  of  events 
in  our  Saviour's  life,  there  must, 
from  the  very  character  of  the  nar- 
rative, be  abiiipt  transitions  from 
one  event  to  others  which  occurred 
at  a  wholly  different  time,  and  un- 
der entirely  different  circumstances. 
The  Gospel  of  Matthew  or  Luke  is 
not  much  longer  than  a  eulogy  on 
some  eminent  man.  One  Evange- 
list, in  his  bi-ief  sketch,  having  his 
mind  particiilarly  interested  in  one 
class  offacts  connected  with  the  birth 
of  Jesus,  might  speak  of  tlie  visit  of 
the  magi,  the  ciaieltj'-  of  Herod,  and 
the  consequent  flight  to  Egypt,  while 
another  might  select  a  wholly  dif- 
ferent class  of  facts,  and  speak  of 
the  annunciation,  the  journey  from 
Nazareth  to  Bethlehem,  the  vision 
seen  by  the  shepherds,  the  circum- 
cision, the  purification,  and  the  sub- 
sequent removal  back  to  Nazareth, 
without  giving  any  ground  to  infer 
that  either  was  ignorant  of  what 
the  other  has  recorded,  or  that  be- 
cause one  has  related  one  class  of 
events,  therefore  the  other  class  of 
events,  which  purjiorts  to  have  oc- 
curred at  nearly  the  same  time,  coidd 
not  have  taken  place.  Both  the 
Evangelists  together  fail  to  relate 
a  hundredth  part  of  the  inciden's 
which  interested  those  then  living 
in  Palestine  within  two  years  of  the 
birth  of  Jesus.  Nothing'  is  more  un- 
safe than  to  infer  a  contradiction 
from  a  want  of  coincidence  in  two 
."uch  narratives;  for  in  each  of  them, 
from  a  great  abundance  of  facts  and 
sayings,  —  so  many,  says  John,  that 
the  world  could  not  colitain  them  if 
they  should  all  be  written,  — the 
wn-iter  makes  such  selections  as  may 
best  suit  his  purpose,  and  uses  them, 


MATTHEW   II. 


59 


that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophets, 
He  shall  be  called  a  Nazarene. 


generally  without  indicating  the 
precisie  time  to  which  they  relate. 
We  shall  find,  as  we  go  on,  that  it 
will  not  do  to  take  any  one  of  the 
Gospels  as  a  precise  chronological 
statement  of  events;  still  less  as  an 
account  intended  to  embrace  all  the 
facts  belonging  to  any  one  period  of 
our  Saviour's  life.    As  respects  the 


birth  of  Jesus,  Mark  and  John  say 
nothing;  Matthew  relates  one  series 
of  events  intimately  connected,  and 
Luke  another,  while  both,  except- 
ing a  single  incident,  Luke  ii.  41  - 
52,  pass  over  the  whole  period  of  his 
childhood  and  youth  till  he  was 
about  thirty  years  of  age. 


60  MATTHEW   III. 


CHAPTER    III. 

John  the  Baptist. 

There  was,  as  we  have  already  seen,  among  the  Jews,  a 
general  but  indefinite  expectation  of  the  Messiah,  which  had 
only  been  strengthened  by  their  national  vicissitudes  and 
misfortunes.  While  they  were  scattered  through  distant 
lands,  mingling  with  other  nations,  and  in  some  measure 
adopting  their  philosophical  ideas,  the  particular  form  which 
this  expectation  assumed  varied  with  the  place  of  their 
sojourn  and  their  individual  habits  of  thought.  "  Each 
region,"  says  Milman,  "each  rank,  each  sect:  the  Baby- 
lonian, the  Egyptian,  the  Palestinian,  the  Samaritan ;  the 
Pharisee,  the  lawyer,  the  zealot,  arrayed  the  Messiah  in 
those  attributes  which  suited  his  own  temperament."  Some 
one  was  needed  in  Judasa  .to  give  consistency  to  these  vary- 
ing expectations,  and  especially  to  give  them  new  intensity 
and  power  by  announcing  as  already  at  hand  that  kingdom 
of  God  to  which  they  had  been  pointing  forward  through  so 
many  centuries.  This  was  the  ofhce  assigned  to  the  Bap- 
tist. He  was  not  a  follower  of  Christ,  but  only  the  herald 
to  announce  his  coming.  It  was  not  given  to  him  as  it  was 
to  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  (Matt.  xiii.  11,)  "to  know  the 
mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,"  but  "  the  least  in  the 
kingdom  of  God,"  (Luke  vii.  28,)  i.  e.  the  humblest  Chris- 
tian, was  declared  by  Jesus  to  be  "  greater  than  he."  We 
must,  therefore,  be  careful  not  to  ascribe  to  him  ideas  which 
could  be  entertained  only  by  those  who  had  learned  them 
from  the  Messiah  himself. 

He  had  been  brought  up  among  the  mountains  of  Judaea, 


MATTHEW    HI.  61 

about  as  far  to  the  south  as  Jesus  was  to  the  north  from 
Jerusalem.  His  habits  of  hfe  were  probably  those  of  a 
religious  recluse,  with  a  conviction  borne  in  upon  him  that 
he  had  been  born  and  set  apart  for  some  great  and  holy 
purpose.  Like  the  mighty  prophet  Elijah  of  old,  he  was 
rude  in  dress,  simple  in  diet,  and  severe  in  speech,  dwelling 
in  religious  thought  and  prayer  amid  the  solitudes  of  nature. 
When  the  time  had  at  length  arrived,  he  came  down  from 
the  mountains  to  the  valley  of  the  Jordan.  He  announced 
the  approaching  kingdom  of  Heaven  in  terms  of  startling 
decision  and  severity.  He  warned  men  to  flee  from  the 
wrath  that  was  impending  over  the  ungodly,  and  to  prepare 
themselves,  by  change  of  heart  and  newness  of  life,  to  meet 
the  Messiah  at  his  coming.  Crowds  from  all  quarters  gath- 
ered round  him.  Even  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  came  to 
witness  his  baptism.  He  sees  their  national  delusion  in 
supposing  that,  because  they  are  descended  from  Abraham, 
they  must  therefore  be  admitted  into  the  Messiah's  kingdom. 
This  new  kingdom,  he  tells  them,  is  not  thus  easily  to  be 
entered.  "  Ye  generation  of  vipers,  who  hath  warned  you 
to  flee  from  the  coming  wrath  ?  Bring  forth  then  fruit 
worthy  of  repentance,  and  do  not  think  to  say,  '  We  have 
Abraham  for  our  father.'  From  these  stones  [that  are 
lying  round  us]  God  can  raise  up  children,  or  successors,  to 
Abraham."  And  then,  to  impress  them  with  a  sense  of 
the  urgency  of  the  occasion,  as  if  not  a  moment  were  to  be 
lost,  he  exclaims,  with  vehement  and  terrible  earnestness, 
that  the  axe  even  now  is  lying  at  the  root  of  the  tree,  and 
every  tree  that  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit  is  cut  [chopped] 
down  and  cast  into  the  fire.  "I,  indeed,"  he  continues, 
"  baptize  you  with  water  unto  repentance,"  receiving  none 
to  my  baptism  but  those  who  repent,  and  confess  their  sins ; 
"  but  here  is  coming  one  mightier  than  I,  who  will  subject 
you  to  a  more  searching  ordeal,  baptizing  you,  not  in  water 
alone,  but  in  the  holy  spirit  [wind]  and  fire,"  "  for,"  he 
says,  continuing  the  same  thought  still  under  the  imagery 
6 


62  MATTHEW    III. 

of  wind  and  fire,  "  with  his  winnowing  instrument  in  his 
hand,  he  will  clear  up  his  threshing-floor,  gathering  the 
wheat  into  his  storehouse  and  burning  the  chaff  with  un- 
quenchable fire." 

Some  have  supposed  that  John  here,  by  these  different 
kinds  of  baptism,  describes  the  different  degrees  of  spiritual 
attainment  in  his  disciples  and  those  of  the  Messiah.  "  Bap- 
tism with  water,"  says  Olshausen,  "  implies  repentance,  and 
purification  from  sin  ;  baptism  with  the  spirit  refers  to  the 
inward  cleansing  in  faith,  (the  Holy  Spirit  being  conceived 
of  as  the  regenerating  principle,)  and,  lastly,  baptism  with 
fire  expresses  the  glorification  of  the  regenerated  higher 
life  into  its  own  peculiar  nature."  But  these  ideas,  however 
familiar  they  may  be  to  us,  belong,  in  the  higher  develop- 
ment of  our  Christian  experience,  to  a  plane  of  spiritual  life 
and  thought  which  we  have  reason  to  suppose  that  John, 
who  was  only  the  herald  or  forerunner  of  Christ,  had  never 
reached.  As  the  humblest  disciple  of  Jesus,  he  "  who  is 
least  in  the  kingdom  of  God,"  knows  more  of  its  interior  life 
and  economy  than  he  who  was  not  only  "  a  prophet,  but 
more  than  a  prophet,"  under  the  old  dispensation,  it  would 
be  a  serious  anachronism  to  assign  to  John,  at  that  time,  so 
profound  a  knowledge  of  the  religion  of  Jesus.  The  same 
remark  applies  also,  though  with  less  force,  to  the  interpre- 
tations by  which  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of  fire 
are  referred  to  the  tongues  of  flame  on  the  day  of  Pentecost 
(Acts  ii.  3,  compared  with  Acts  i.  5,  xix.  2,  3).  For  this 
would  be  to  ascribe  to  the  Baptist,  before  the  ministry  of  Je- 
sus had  begun,  a  degree  of  knowledge  which  the  disciples  of 
Jesus  did  not  have  till  some  time  after  its  close.  So  also  the 
explanation  of  the  baptism  of  fire  by  a  reference  to  the 
"  much  tribulation  "  of  Acts  'xiv.  22,  and  "  the  fire  "  (1  Cor. 
iii.  13)  which  "shall  try  every  man's  work,  of  what  sort  it 
is,'"  implies  in  John  a  sort  of  knowledge  which  we  have  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  he  possessed.  Besides,  any  one  of 
these  interpretations  interferes  with  the  straightforward, 
direct,  and  vehement  earnestness  of  his  speech. 


MATTHEW    III.  63 

"Why  did  Jesus  come,  to  be  baptized  by  John?  The 
question  is  one  which  we  cannot  fully  and  confidently 
answer.  But  as  John  had  been  raised  up  to  announce 
the  immediate  coming  of  the  Messiah,  and  by  his  preach- 
ing had  excited  such  an  ex23ectation  in  the  minds  of  thou- 
sands, the  object  of  all  this  movement  on  the  part  of  the 
Baptist  would  be  lost  to  the  cause,  unless  his  predictions 
should  in  some  way  be  connected  with  Jesus.  Jesus,  there- 
fore, in  the  fulness  of  time,  came  to  John  at  the  Jordan. 
Whether  they  had  pr-eviously  had  any  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  each  other  is  not  quite  certain.  Though  their 
mothers  were  related,  the  two  families  lived  in  the  opposite 
extremities  of  Palestine,  and  probably  their  only  oppor- 
tunities of  meeting  would  be  in  Jerusalem,  at  the  great 
religious  festivals.  The  extraordinary  circumstances  at- 
tending their  birth  would  naturally  draw  their  parents  to- 
gether. The  probability,  therefore,  is  that  they  had  had  some 
personal  knowledge  of  each  other,  and  that  the  expression 
of  the  Baptist  (John  i.  33),  "  I  knew  him  not,"  means  that 
he  did  not  till  then  know  him  as  the  Messiah.  But 
in  order  that  the  testimony  of  John  should  have  its  due 
weight  -with  the  people,  it  was  important  that  it  should 
come  from  him,  not  as  a  personal  friend  and  companion 
of  Jesus,  but  as  an  independent  witness  and  prophet  of 
God. 

John,  therefore,  was  brought  up  under  the  old  dispensa- 
tion, having  only  a  slight  personal  acquaintance  with  Jesus, 
and  came  forth,  as  he  was  moved  by  the  spirit  of  God,  to 
herald  the  coming  of  that  kingdom  in  which  the  law  and 
the  prophets  alike  were  to  'find  their  fulfilment.  Like 
Moses,  he  was  to  lead  the  people  out  of  their  ancient 
bondage  through  the  wilderness  to  the  very  borders  of 
the  promised  kingdom,  seeing  it  near,  pointing  it  out  to 
his  followers,  indicating  and  setting  apart  their  future  and 
greater  leader,  but  himself,  for  wise  and  weighty  reasons, 
not  permitted  to  enter  within  its  borders.     As  he  was  the 


G4  aiATTHEW    III. 

last,  and  in  some  respects  the  greatest  of  the  prophets 
belonging  to  the  ancient  dispensation,  Jesus,  who  submitted 
to  all  the  requirements  of  that  dispensation,  came  to  re- 
ceive from  him  its  solemn  sanctions,  and  it  has  been  thought 
in  the  very  place  where  Joshua,  or  Jesus  (for  the  names 
are  the  same)  led  the  tribes  of  Israel  on  dry  ground 
through  the  Jordan,  there  he  went  down  to  its  baptismal 
M'aters,  and  in  his  own  person  consecrated  forever  the 
rite  which  througli  all  coming  ages  should  stand  as  the 
sign,  if  not  the  seal  of  admission  into  his  kingdom.  As 
he  went  up  from  the  water,  and  stood  (Luke  iii.  21)  pray- 
ing, his  countenance  we  may  suppose  radiant  with  the 
emotions  of  the  hour,  behold,  the  heavens  were  opened 
to  him,  and  he  perceived'  the  spirit  of  God,  pure  and 
peaceful  as  a  dove  (the  sacred  bird  of  Syria)  descend- 
ing, and  (John  i.  32)  resting  upon  him;  and  behold,  a 
voice  from  the  heavens  saying,  'This  is  my  son,  the 
beloved,  in  Avhom  I  am  well  pleased." 

When  John  saw  Jesus,  he  was  awed  by  him  as  in 
the  presence  of  a  superior  being,  and  shrunk  from  ad- 
ministering to  him  the  rite  of  baptism.  He  felt  his  own 
inferiority.  The  "former  things"  to  which  he  belonged 
were  now  to  be  fulfilled  by  passing  away,  through  a  species 
of  dissolution,  into  the  higher  kingdom  which  is  to  be  in- 
augurated. With  the  modest  humihty  which  becomes  a 
true  servant  of  God,  he  submits  to  the  request  of  Christ, 
and  in  so  doing  receives  from  heaven  the  proof  that  the 
Messiah  has  come.  He  sees,  that,  like  the  star  which 
has  been  the  harbinger  of  a  fairer  day,  he  must  decrease, 
(John  iii.  30,)  while  the  SiAi  of  Righteousness  which  he 
has  announced  as  rising  upon  the  world  must  increase 
in  brightness  and  power.  In  that  new  kingdom  no  office 
was  assigned  to  him.  It  was  appointed  in  the  counsels 
of  Infinite  Wisdom  that  he  should  stand  apart  fis  the  ap- 
pointed herald,  but  not  be  a  follower  of  the  Messiah. 

From  that  day  the  ministry  of  John  was  in  fact  ended. 


MATTHEW    III.  65 

"For  this  purpose,"  he  said,  (John  i.  31,)  "am  I  come 
baptizing  with  water,  that  he  should  be  made  manifest 
in  Israel,"  and  in  proportion  as  lie  is  made  known  must 
the  Baptist  retire  before  him.  "  I  am,"  he  said,  (John  i. 
23,)  "  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,"  and  now 
that  voice  having  waked  the  solitudes  of  Judasa,  and  turned 
the  expectations  of  the  nation  towards  the  Messiah,  re- 
cedes again  into  silence.  There  is  something  very  touch- 
ing and  very  beautiful  in  the  readiness  with,  which  this 
great  man,  so  honored  and  reverenced  among  all  the  people 
as  a  prophet  of  God,  humbled  himself  before  Jesus  from 
the  first  moment  of  his  appearance.  And,  in  all  the  cir- 
cumstances of  our  Saviour's  coming,  in  the  blended  dignity 
and  humility  which  marked  his  personal  deportment,  and 
the  tokens  of  divine  love  and  approbation  which  came 
down  to  him  from  heaven,  we  see  how  befitting  the  work 
which  had  been  given  him  to  do  was  this  his  first  entrance 
on  the  field  of  his  labors. 


NOTES. 


Ix  those  days  came  John  the  Baptist,  preaching  in  the  wilder- 

2  ness  of  Judaea,  and  saying :  Repent  ye,  for  the  kingdom  of 

1.  Ill  those  days]  An  indefinite  eral  proclamation,  somewhat  in  the 
expression  nearly  corresponding  to  style  of  Isaiah's  exhortation,  to  all 
our  at  lengthy  or  in  the  course  of  the  inhabitants  to  assemble  along 
time.  In  this  case  it  refers  to  Avhat  the  proposed  route,  and  prepai'e  the 
took  place  nearly  thirty  years  after  way  before  him.  The  same  was 
the  events  spoken  of  in  the  para-  done  in  1845  on  a  grand  scale,  when 
graph  next  preceding  it.  In  Ex-  the  present  Sultan  visited  Brusa. 
odus  ii.  11  it  is  used  as  a  form  of  The  stones  were  gathered  out.  crook- 
introduction  to  events  which  oc-  ed  places  straightened,  and  rough 
curred  forty  years  after  those  de-  ones  made  level  and  smooth."  The 
scribed  in  the  previous  sentence.  Land  and  the  Book,  Thomson,  II. 
preaching]  proclaim-  106.  Sometimes  they  sent  forward 
ing  as  a  herald  who  goes  befoi'e  to  heralds  to  announce  their  approach, 
announce  the  coming  of  a  king,  and  to  require  the  people  to  make 
"  When  Ibrahim  Pasha  proposed  to  this  preparation  for  their  coming, 
visit  certain  places  in  Lebanon,  the  in  the  wilderness] 
emeers  and  sheiks  sent  forth  a  gen-  not  strictly  a  desert,  but  compara- 
6*  E 


66 


MATTHEW   III. 


heaven  is  at  hand.     For  tins  is  he  that  was  spoken  of  by  the   3 
prophet  Esaias,  saying,    "  The  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wil- 
derness, prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make   his  paths 
straight."     And  the  same  John   had  his  raiment  of  camel's   4 
hair,  and  a  leathern  girdle  about  his  loins ;    and  his  meat  was 


tively  an  uninliabited  region  round 
the  Jordan.  2.  Repent 

ye]  The  Greek  word  hterally  re- 
fers to  a  change  of  mind  or  thought, 
and  inipHes  a  change  so  deep  that  it 
reaches  the  very  fountain  of  thought, 
and  therefore  touches  the  inmost 
motives  which  give  their  shape  and 
coloring  to  the  hfe.  Dr.  Campbell 
and  ilr.  Norton  translate  it,  Reform ; 
but  this  to  most  minds  conveys  the 
impression  of  an  external  change 
rather  than  of  one  which,  beginning 
in  the  soul,  works  outward  through 
the  conduct,  till  mind  and  heart  and 
life  alike  are  transformed.  The  word 
Repent  is  confined  too  exclusively  to 
the  inward  feeling  of  sorrow,  which 
is  only  the  beginning  of  the  change 
that  is  required.  2.  the 

kingdom  of  heaven]  literally, 
the  kingdom  of  the  heavens,  —  a  form 
of  expression  used  only  by  Matthew, 
the  other  Evangelists  using  the  term 
kingdom  of  God.  Some  stress  has 
been  laid,  and  perhaps  not  without 
reason,  on  this  expression  as  indi- 
cating a  plurality  of  heat-ens,  corre- 
sponding to  the  many  mansions  in 
his  Father's  house  "which  Jesus 
speaks  of  (John  xiv.  2),  and  adapted 
to  the  sons  of  God  in  the  different 
stages  of  their  spiritual  progress. 
The  idea  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven 
or  kingdom  of  God  as  synonymous 
with  the  Messiah's  kingdom  Avas 
probably  familiar  to  the  Jews,  bor- 
rowed, perhaps,  from  passages  like 
Daniel  ii.  44.  It  is  used  in  the  New 
Testament  with  different  shades  of 
meaning  to  indicate  the  Messiah's 
kingdom:  1.  as  an  inward  principle 
of  life  in  the  soul  (the  kingdom  of 
God  is  within  you,  Luke  xvii.  21); 
2.  as  a  divine  power  extending 
through  the  world  and  changing 
its  whole  chai-acter  (a  little  leaven 
which  leaveneth  the  whole  mass, 
Matt.  xii.  33);  3.  as  an  organized 
polity,  like  a  net  cast  into  the  sea, 


Mutt.  xiii.  47,  48,  and  taking  into 
itself  the  good  and  the  bad  till  they 
shall  at  length  be  separated  in  the 
end  of  the  world;  4.  as  the  Messiah's 
kingdom  when  it  shall  take  the  place 
of  the  Jewish  dispensation  after  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  Luke  ix. 
27;  or,  5.  as  it  shall  appear  in  its 
consummation  amid  the  brighter 
glories  of  a  higher  world,  when  the 
Son  of  man  shall  sit  on  the  throne 
of  his  glory.  Matt.  xxv.  31,  when  it 
shall  be  fulfilled  in  the  kingdom  of 
God,  Luke  xxii.  16,  or  when  through 
much  tribiilation  we  shall  enter  the 
kingdom  of  God,  Acts  xiv.  22. 
These  diftcrent  meanings  melt  in- 
sensibly into  one  another.  We  have 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  John  the 
Baptist  understood  the  expression 
at  all  in  its  higher  signification,  but 
only  as  indicating  an  outward,  visi- 
ble kingdom,  founded  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  righteousness,  but  exercis- 
ing an  earthly  authority  and  power. 
3.  For"^  this  is  he 
that  was  spoken  of  by  the 
prophet  Esaias]  The  quotation 
is  from  the  Septuagint.  The  whole 
passage  should  be  read  (Isaiah  xl.) 
in  order  to  understand  the  effect 
intended  by  the  introduction  of  a 
few  of  the  words  here.  The  Bap- 
tist, in  John  i.  23,  describes  himself 
by  these  same  words.  4.  his 

raiment  of  camel's  hair,  and  a 
leathern  girdle  about  his  loins] 
The  Jews  expected  Elijah  as  the 
forerunner  of  the  Messiah,  and  this 
description  corresponds  to  that  of 
Elijah  in  2  Kings  i.  8,  "  He  [Elijah] 
Avas  an  hairy  man,  and  girt  with  a 
girdle  of  leather  about  his  loins." 
Elijah  was  intimately  associated  in 
the  Jewish  mind  with  the  Messiah 
as  his  forerunner,  and  Jesus  liimself 
xvii.  10  -  13,  distinctly  declares  that 
this  expected  Elijah  is  none  other 
than  John  the  Bajjtist.  The  proph- 
ecy which  probably  gave  rise  to  the 


MATTHEW   III. 


67 


fi  locusts  and  wild  honey.     Then  went  out  to  him  Jerusalem, 

6  and  all  Juda3a,  and  all  the  region  rourd  about  Jordan  ;  and 

7  were  baptized  of  liim  in  Jordan,  confessing  their  sins.  But 
when  he  saw  many  of  the  Phai'isces  and  Sadducees  come  to  his 
baptism,  he  said  unto  them :   O  generation  of  vipers,  who  hatli 

8  warned  }'ou  to  flee  from  the   wrath  to  come  V     Bring  forth 


expectation  is  a  remarkable  one, 
and,  from  its  place  at  the  very  end 
of  the  Jewish  Scriptm-es,  Malachi 
iv.  5,  6,  must  have  attracted  pai- 
ticular  attention:  "Behold,  I  Avill 
send  you  Elijah  the  prophet  before 
the  coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful 
day  of  the  Lord,  and  he  shall  turn 
the  heart  of  the  fathers  to  the  chil- 
dren, and  the  heart  of  the  children 
to  their  fathers,  lest  I  come  and  smite 
the  earth  with  a  curse."  This  de- 
scribes the  influence  of  John  in 
preaching  his  doctrine  of  repent- 
ance, and  thus  preparing  the  hearts 
of  the  people,  parents  and  children, 
for  the  coming  of  Christ.  ar.d 

Ills  meat  ^vas  locusts  and  wild 
honey]  Locusts,  first  boiled  and 
then  dried  in  the  sun,  and  carried 
like  parched  corn  in  bags,  are  still 
sometimes  used  as  an  article  of  food 
by  the  Bedouin  on  the  frontiers  of 
Syria.  The  insects  were  gi-asshop- 
pers,  and  not  locusts,  and  should  be 
so  read  Avherever  the  word  occurs 
in  the  Bible.  Jaeger.  The  tc'dd 
honey  was  not,  as  some  have  thought, 
a  vegetable  product  exuding  from 
trees,  but  honey  made  by  wild  bees. 
"•  Wild  honey,"  says  Tliomson,  "  is 
still  gathered  in  large  quantities  from 
trees  in  the  wilderness,  and  from 
rocks  in  the  Avadies,  just  Avhere  the 
Baptist  sojourned,  and  Avhere  he 
came  preaching  the  baptism  of  re- 
pentance." 6.  And 
^vere  baptized  of  him  in  Jor- 
dan] "  When  mull  were  admitted 
as  proselytes,  three  rites  were  per- 
formed, —  circumcision,  baptism, 
and  oblation;  Avlieu  women,  two, — 
baptism  and  oblation.  The  whole 
families  of  proselytes,  including  in- 
fants, were  baptized."  Alford. 
*'  Baptism,  symbolical  or  ceremonial 
washing,  such  as  the  Mosaic  law 
prescribed  as  a  sign  of  moral  reno- 
vation, and  connected  with  the  sac- 


rificial types  of  expiation.  It  Avas 
from  these  familiar  and  significant 
ablutions  that  John's  baptism  was 
deriA'cd,  and  not  from  the  practice 
of  baptizing  proselytes,  the  antiqui- 
ty of  Avhich  as  a  distinct  rite  is  dis- 
puted." Alexander  on  Mark.  "  It 
Avas  in  itself,"  says  Stanley,  "  no 
ncAV  ceremony.  Ablutions,*  in  the 
East,  have  always  been  more  or  less 
a  part  of  religious  AA'orship,  easily 
performed  and  ahvays  Avelcome. 
Every  synagogue,  if  possible,  Avas 
by  the  side  of  a  stream  or  spring; 
every  mosque,  still,  requires  a  foun- 
tain or  basin  for  lustrations  in  its 
court."  7.  Pharisees 

and  Sadducees]  Josephus  repre- 
sents these  two  sects  as  originating 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
before  Christ.  They  overlaid  tlie 
laAV  and  the  prophets  by  their  tra- 
ditions, and,  like  all  sects  Avho  trust 
to  forms  and  traditions,  they  neg- 
lected the  spirit  of  their  religion,  and 
became  remarkable  for  their  super- 
stition and  hypocrisy.  They  had 
great  influence,  as  their  rcpresent- 
atiA'es  in  all  ages  haA'e  among  their 
OAvn  people,  and,  like  their  succes- 
sors noAV,  Avere  the  most  malignant 
enemies  of  Jesus,  as  he  appeared  in 
the  simplicity  of  his  instnictions 
and  the  purity  of  his  life.  The  Sad- 
ducees, AA'ho  Avere  supposed  to  be 
so  called  from  a  HebreAV  Avord, 
meaning  righteousness,  rejected  all 
tradition,  and,  though  it  was  not 
originally  one  of  their  distinguishing 
features,  yet  in  our  Saviour's  time 
they  denied  the  reality  of  a  future 
life.  By  confining  themseh'es  to  a 
bare,  li'teral,  moral  conformity  to 
the  law  of  Moses,  they  lost  all  spirit- 
ual ■  life,  and  Avith  it  all  belief  in 
si)ii-itual  influences  or  spiritual  be- 
ings. They  are  the  type  of  the  car- 
nal unbelief  Avhich  prevails  among 
the  philosophical  classes,  and  those 


68 


MATTHEW    UI. 


tlicreforc  fruits  meet  for  repentance,  and  tLink  not  to  say  with-  9 
in  yourselves,  Wo  liave  Abraham  to  our  father ;  for  I  say  un- 
to you,  that  God  is  able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up  children 
unto  Abraham.     And  now  also  the  axe  is  laid  unto  the  root  of  lo 
the  trees ;  therefore  every  tree  which  bringeth  not  forth  good 
fruit  is  hewn  down,  and  cast  into  the  fire.     I  indeed  baptize  ii 
you  with  water,  unto  repentance ;  but  he  that  cometh  after 
me  is  mightier  than  I,  whose  shoes  I  am  not  worthy  to  bear ; 
he   shall   baptize   you  with   the    Holy   Ghost,  and  with  fire. 
Whose  fan  is  in  his  hand,  and  he  will  thoroughly  purge  his  12 
floor  ;  and  gather  his  wheat  into  the  garner,  but  he  will  burn 
up  the  chaff  with  unquenchable  fire. 

Then  cometh  Jesus  from  Galilee  to  Jordan,  unto  John,  to  be  13 


whose  thoughts  are  "  bound  up  in 
a  materialistic  prosperity." 
11.  The  Holy  Ghost]  The  word 
translated  Ghost  or  Spirit  means 
also  air  or  wind,  and  the  comparison 
is  between  Avater  with  which  John 
baptized  and  the  more  searching 
elements  wind  and  fire,  by  which 
the  Messiah  should  try  his  follow- 
ers. Whose  shoes, 
&c.]  In  the  Talmud  it  is  said, 
*'  Eveiy  office  a  servant  will  do  for 
his  master,  a  scholar  should  perform 
for  his  teacher,  except  loosing  his 
sandal  thong."  Milman's  Historv  of 
Christianity,  Book  I.  Chap.  3.  the 
office  lower  than  that  of  a  disciple 
to  the  Iklessiah,  which  the  Baptist 
speaks  of  as  still  too  high  for  him,  is 
used  to  indicate,  not  only  his  rever- 
ence for  that  exalted  being,  but  also 
his  consciousness  of  the  remai-kable 
foct,  that,  in  the  purposes  of  the 
Almighty,  it  was  not  appointed  for 
him  to  hold  even  the  lowest  place 
in  the  new  kingdom  which  he  had 
announced.  According  to  Lightfoot, 
it  was  the  token  of  a  slave  having 
become  his  master's  propei'ty,  to 
loose  his  shoe,  to  tie  the  stuiie,  or  to 
carry  the  necessary  articles  for  him 
to  tlie  bath.  and  with 
fire]  "  The  double  symbolic  refer- 
ence of  fire,  elsewhere  found,  e.  g. 
IMark  ix.  49,  as  purifying  the  good 
and  consuming  the  evil,  is  hardly  to 
be  pressed  into  the  interpretation  of 
Jire  iu  this  verse,  the  prophecy  here 


being  solely  of  that  higher  and  more 

Serfect  baptism   to  Avhich   that  of 
ohn   was    a    mere    introduction." 
Alford.  12.  Whose 

fan]  the  winnowing  shovel  with 
■which  the  grain  when  thrashed  was 
tossed  into  the  air  so  as  to  separate 
the  chaff  from  the  wheat. 
he  will  thoroughly  purge  his 
floor]  The  threshing-floor  may 
sometimes  have  been  a  large,  flat 
rock,  but  usually  it  was  a  level  spot 
of  earth  trodden  or  rolled  smooth 
and  hard.  The  grain  was  beaten 
out  by  flails,  or  trodden  out  by 
oxen.  13.  to  Jordan] 

"  It  was  the  one  river  of  Palestine, 

—  sacred  in  its  recollections, —  abun- 
dant in  its  watei-s;  and  yet,  at  the 
same  time,  the  river,  not  of  cities, 
but  of  the  wilderness,  —  the  scene 
of  the  preaching  of  those  who  dwelt 
not  in  king's  palaces,  nor  wore  soft 
clothing.  On  the  banks  of  the  rush- 
ing stream  the  muKitudes  gathered, 

—  the  priests  and  scribes  from  Jeni- 
salem,  down  the  pass  of  Adummin; 
the  publicans  from  Jericho  on  the 
south,  and  the  Lake  of  Gennesareth 
on  the  north ;  the  soldiers  on  their 
way  from  Damascus  to  Petra, 
through  the  Ghor,  in  the  war  with 
the  Ai-ab  chief  Haretli,  the  peasants 
from  Galilee,  with  Oxe  from  Naza- 
reth, through  the  opening  of  the 
plain  of  Esdraelon.  The  tall '  reeds ' 
or  canes  in  the  jungle  waved, 
'  shaken  by  the  wind ' ;  the  pebbles 


MATTHEW    III. 


69 


14  baptized  of  him.     But  John  forbade  bim,  saying :  I  have  need 

15  to  be  baptized  of  thee,  and  comest  thou  to  me  ?  And  Jesus 
answering  said  unto  him,  Suffer  it  to  be  so  now ;  for  thus  It 
becometh  us  to  fulfil  all  righteousness.     Then  he  suffered  him. 

16  And  Jesus,  when  he  was  baptized,  went  up  straightway  out  of 
the  water ;  and,  lo,  the  heavens  were  opened  unto  him,  and  he 
saw  the  Spirit  of  God  descending  like  a  dove,  and  lighting  up- 

17  on  him.  And,  lo,  a  voice  from  heaven,  saying,  This  is  my 
beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased. 


of  the  bare  clay  hills  lay  around,  to 
which  the  Baptist  pointed  as  capa- 
ble of  being  transformed  into  '  the 
cliildren  of  Abraham  ' ;  at  their  feet 
rushed  the  refreshing  stream  of 
the  never-fiviling  river.  There  be- 
gan that  sacred  rite,  which  has 
since  spread  throughout  the  world, 
through  the  vast  baptistries  of  the 
southern  and  Oriental  churches, 
gradually  dwindling  to  the  little 
fonts  of  the  north  and  Avest;  the 
plunges  beneath  the  Avater  dimin- 
ishing to  the  few  drops  which,  by 
a  Avise  exercise  of  Christian  free- 
doin,  are  now  in  most  churches  the 
sole  representative  of  the  full  stream 
of  the  Descending  River."  Stanley. 
to  be  baptized  of 
him]  We  know  too  little  of  the 
significance  of  this  rite  at  that  time 
among  the  Jews,  and  especially  as 
it  was  administered  by  John,  to  un- 
derstand why  Jesus  should  himself 
have  observed  it.  In  addition  to 
what  we  have  suggested  in  our  gen- 
eral remarks  on  the  subject,  it  may 
also  be  tnie,  as  Alford  says,  that  he 
did  it  "  as  bearing  the  infirmities 
and  canying  the  sorrows  of  man- 
kind, and  thus  beginning  here  the 
triple  baptism  of  Avater,  fire,  and 
blood,  tAvo  parts  of  Avhich  Avere  now 
accomplished,  and  of  the  third  of 
Avhich  he  himself  speaks,  Luke  xii. 
60,  and  the  belov^ed  Apostle,  1  John 
v.  8,  Avhere  spirit  stands  for  fire.'''' 
Great  stress  is  laid  on  the  manner 
in  Avhicli  Jesus  Avas  baptized,  Avheth- 
er  it  Avas  by  immersion,  eflfusion,  or 
sprinkling.  The  coming  up  out  of 
the  water  seems  to  imply  that  he 
Avent  doAvn  into  the  Avater,  Avhere  he 
Avas  either  immersed,  or  had  Avater 


povired  upon  him  Avhile  he  stood  in 
the  river  near  its  bank.  We  liave 
no  certain  knoAvledge  on  tlie  sub- 
ject. If  it  had  been  important  Ave 
probably  should  haA^e  had  it.  But 
Avhy  should  his  precise  mode  of 
baptism  be  of  consequence  any  more 
than  the  particular  garment\vhich 
he  then  Avore '?  If  it  is  essential  to 
baptism  that  Ave  should  enter  the 
Avater  precisely  as  he  did,  Avhy  is  it 
not  essential  to  the  Lord's  Supper 
that  in  partaking  of  it  Ave  should 
recline  upon  a  couch  as  he  did?  It 
is  foreign  to  the  Avhole  tone  of  his 
instructions  to  lay  any  stress  on  the 
external  and  incidental  adjuncts  of 
a  form.  15.  Suifier  it  to 

be  so  now]  Let  it  be  so  for  the 
present,  just  noAV.  It  is  fitting  that 
Ave  both  of  us  should  fulfil  all  right- 
eousness, i.  e.  all  requirements  of 
the  laAV.  For  the  present,  therefore, 
permit  me  as  the  fulfiller  of  the  laAV 
to  receiA'e  this  rite  Avhile  you  as  its 
agent  administer  it.  '  16. 

aiid  he  sa^v  the  Spirit  of  God 
descending  like  a  dove]  This 
may  have  been  a  mental  A'ision, 
open  to  the  spiritual  perceptions  of 
Jesus  and  of  the  Baptist,  John  i.  32, 
or  it  may  have  been  the  actual  bod- 
ily shape  of  a  doA-e  appearing  to 
them  as  symbolical  of  the  pure  and 
peaceful  spirit  of  God  and  of  him  Avho 
that  day  Avas  first  publicly  set  apart 
for  his  great  and  sacred  Avork.  We 
should  translate  the  verse  as  folloAvs : 
And  the  moment  that  Jesus,  being 
baptized,  Avas  gone  up  out  of  the 
Avater,  lo,  the  heavens  Avere  opened 
to  him,  and  he  saAv  the  spirit  of  God, 
descending  like  a  dove,  coming  upon 
him. 


70  MATTHEW    IV.    1-11. 


CHAPTER     IV. 

1-11.  —  The  Temptation  in  the  Wilderness. 

We  suppose  that  very  few  able  scholars  of  our  day 
regard  the  account  of  the  Temptation  as  an  account  of 
events  which  actually  took  place  according  to  the  letter  of 
the  narrative.  Some  —  Schleiermacher,  for  example  —  look 
upon  it  as  a  parable  by  which  Jesus  would  impress  most 
important  lessons  on  the  minds  of  his  disciples.  "Three 
leading  maxims  of  Christ,"  he  says,  in  his  Critical  Essay 
on  the  Gospel  of  St.  Luke,  "for  himself  and  for  those 
who  were  invested  by  him  with  extraordinary  powers  for 
the  promotion  of  his  kingdom,  are  therein  expressed:  the 
first,  to  perform  no  miracle  for  his  own  advantage,  even 
under  the  most  pressing  circumstances ;  the  second,  never 
to  undertake,  in  the  hope  of  extraordinary  Divine  aid, 
anything  which,  like  the  dropping  from  the  pinnacle  of 
the  temple,  as  it  does  not  lie  in  the  natural  course  of 
things,  would  be  merely  prodigious ;  lastly,  never,  though 
the  greatest  immediate  advantage  were  by  that  means 
attainable,  to  enter  into  fellowship  with  the  wicked,  and 
still  less  into  a  state  of  dependence  upon  them;  and 
Christ  could  not  express  himself  more  strongly  against 
the  opposite  mode  of  conduct  than  by  ascribing  it  to  Satan. 

In  such  a  sense,  then,  Christ  delivered  this  parable 

to  his  disciples." 

These  undoubtedly  are  in  part  the  lessons  taught  by 
the  temptation  in  the  wilderness.  But  it  is  doing  violence 
to  the  language  and  spirit  of  the  narrative  to  interpret 
it   as  applying   in   no  way  to  the  inward  personal  expe- 


MATTHEA7    IV.    1-11.  7% 

rience  of  Jesus.  Jesus,  "conceived  of  the  Holy  Spirit," 
had  nevertheless  been  subjected  to  the  mental  as  well  as 
physical  conditions  of  our  human  nature,  and,  instead  of 
attaining  at  once,  by  reason  of  his  divine  origin,  to  "  all 
the  fulness  of  God,"  grew  not  only  "in  stature,"  but  "in 
wisdom,  and  in  favor  with  God  and  man."  This  sense 
of  intimate  union  with  God  must  have  grown  up  in  him 
with  the  unfolding  consciousness  of  inward  life  and  power, 
and  have  been  dependent  in  some  measure  on  the  influ- 
ences which  usually  affect  our  human  sensibilities.  In 
taking  upon  himself  our  infirmities,  he  was  of  course  sub- 
ject in  some  degree  to  our  fluctuations  of  feeling,  and 
exposed,  as  we  find  in  his  history,  to  periods  of  unusual 
elevation  or  depression  of  spirit.  Though  living  "in  the 
bosom  of  the  Father,"  "not  alone  because  the  Father  was 
with  him,"  yet  there  were  times  when,  under  the  pressure 
of  severe  mental  or  bodily  anguish,  his  sense  of  oneness 
with  God  was  for  the  moment  disturbed  or  lost,  and  he 
prayed  in  agony  of  spirit  that  the  cup  might  pass  from 
him,  or,  as  if  wholly  deserted,  uttered  his  cry  of  com- 
plete desolation  upon  the  cross. 

At  the  time  of  his  baptism  Jesus  seems  to  have  been 
lifted  up  into  a  state  of  unusual  spiritual  exaltation,  and 
being  (Luke  iv.  1)  full  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  was  led 
away,  as  by  a  divine  impulse,  —  "  led  up  of  the  Spirit,"  — 
into  the  solitary  and  mountainous  regions  about  Jericho, 
and  there  gave  himself  to  the  thoughts  suitable  to  his  nature 
and  condition,  and  to  the  great  and  solemn  work  on  which 
he  was  now  to  enter.  Mark  describes  the  savage  features 
of  the  country  by  saying  that  Jesus  was  there  "with  the 
wild  beasts."  He  remained  forty  days.  So  Moses  was 
in  the  mountain  (Ex.  xxxiv.  28)  "forty  days  and  forty 
nights,"  and  "he  did  neither  eat  bread  nor  drink  wine," 
and  Elijah  (1  Kings  xix.  8)  went  in  the  strength  of  what 
he  had  eaten  "  forty  days  and  forty  nights  unto  Horeb,  the 
mount  of  God."     It  is  impossible  to  say  how  long  without 


72  MATTHEW    IV.    1-11. 

any  natural  or  supernatural  sustenance  the  body  may  con- 
tinue, while  the  mind  is  withdrawn  from  outward  interests 
and  wholly  absorbed  in  matters  pertaining  to  its  own  sphere 
and  life.  By  such  an  absorption  of  mind,  the  body  may 
be  thrown  out  of  its  normal  condition,  and  as,  in  some  ex- 
traordinary cases  of  swooning,  may  remain  in  what  would 
seem  almost  a  temporary  suspension  of  the  animal  func- 
tions. However  this  may  be,  Jesus  was  in  the  wilderness 
forty  days,  either  wholly  without  food,  or  with  only  such 
scant  and  insufficient  nutriment  as  the  mountain  solitudes 
might  offer,  without  thought  or  care  on  his  part.  The 
soul,  abstracted  from  the  body  and  material  things,  dwelt 
apart  in  a  world  of  its  own.  But  at  last,  the  body,  over- 
come by  its  long  privations  and  the  strain  to  which  its 
finer  organs  had  been  subjected,  sunk  down,  and  the  mind 
was  called  away  from  its  own  meditations  and  emotions 
to  sympathize  with  the  pangs  of  bodily  suffering.  The 
soul  which  had  been  lifted  up  to  such  heights  of  spiritual 
insight,  and  burdened  with  such  a  weight  of  duty  and  of 
glory,  was  now  brought  down  to  a  keen  and  painful  sense 
of  earthly  weakness,  and  the  first  thought  that  occurred 
to  him  was  to  employ  the  miraculous  powers  with  which 
he  had  been  gifted  as  the  Son  of  God  to  turn  the  stones 
around  him  into  loaves.  From  whatever  source  the  thought 
may  have  come,  it  was  pro'bably  entertained  in  that  half- 
unconscious  state,  which  we  sometimes  experience  when 
the  mind  is  so  occupied  Avith  other  matters  that  we  me- 
chanically assent  to  what  is  proposed  for  our  physical 
comfort  or  relief  There  was  nothing  of  itself  sinful  in 
the  act  suggested.  But  when  the  attention  of  Jesus  was 
awakened,  he  saw  whither  the  suggestion  tended,  and  that, 
in  employing  his  miraculous  powers  to  satisfy  his  personal 
wants,  he  should  stoop  from  his  perfect  disinterestedness, 
and  spend  on  a  low  and  selfish  object  gifts  bestowed  on 
him  for  the  higliest  good  of  all.  No  craving  of  hunger 
should  make   him  for;]ret  the  hi^jher  Avants  of  his  nature. 


MATTHEW    lY.    1-11.  73 

"  Not  by  bread  alone,"  he  replies,  in  language  borrowed 
from  tlie  great  lawgiver  of  Israel  (Deut.  viii.  3),  "but  by 
every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God,  doth 
man  live." 

Having  thus  appealed  from  the  exactions  of  hunger  to 
the  sources  of  a  higher  life  in  God,  he  is  next  tried  by 
a  suggestion  of  an  entirely  different  character.  He  knew 
how  gross  and  earthly  were  the  expectations  of  the  Messiah 
which  prevailed  among  his  countrymen,  and  how  impossi- 
ble it  would  be  to  overcome  their  prejudices,  change  all 
their  ideas  and  habits  of  thought,  by  the  life  of  humilia- 
tion and  sorrow  whicli  he  was  to  lead  among  them.  Why 
shall  he  not  seek  to  reach  their  hearts  in  some  other  way  ? 
Instead  of  shockhig  their  most  dc^arly  cherished  hopes,  and 
repelling  them  forever  from  his  kingdom,  why  shall  he  not 
enforce  upon  them  the  terms  of  liis  great  mission  by  some 
public  and  extraordinary  display  of  his  miraculous  endow- 
ments, and  so  overcome  them  with  wonder  and  astonish- 
ment that  they  will  hail  him  at  once  as  the  deliverer  who 
had  for  so  many  centuries  been  foretold  by  prophets  and 
longed  for  by  patriarchs  and  kings  ?  In  thought,  he  is  borne 
to  the  summit  of  a  lofty  wing  of  the  temple,  while  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  are  gathered  there  at  one  of  the  great 
national  festivals.  As  they  are  gazing  upward  towards 
him  he  is  tempted  to  ask  why  he  shall  not  cast  himself 
down,  knowing  that  as  the  Son  of  God  he  will  be  upborne 
by  his  angels  and  permitted  to  come  to  no  harm?  Thus 
he  would  show  his  confidence  in  God,  and  at  the  same 
time  inaugurate  his  kingdom  on  the  earth  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances.  The  thought  evidently  had  power 
to  move  and  disturb  him.  But  instantly  he  detects  the 
dark  design  which  lies  concealed  under  this  specious  pro- 
posal. He  sees  that,  instead  of  showing  confidence  in 
God  by  this  vain  and  presumptuous  display  of  his  powers, 
he  would  only  be  tempting  his  providence.  As  the  tempta- 
tion was  enforced  by  words  taken  from  the  Psalms,  so  he 
7 


74  MATTHEW    IV.  1-11. 

replies  in  language  taken  also  from  the  Scriptures  (Deut. 
vi.  16),  "Thou  shall  not  tempt  the  Lord  thy  God." 

In  the  first  temptation,  the  motive,  the  desire  to  appease 
his  hunger,  was  innocent,  but  the  object  was  unworthy  the 
intervention  of  his  miraculous  powers.  In  the  second  temp- 
tation, the  object,  the  speedy  establishment  of  his  kingdom, 
was  worthy,  but  the  motive  which  lay  concealed  under  it,  the 
love  of  immediate  distinction,  coupled  with  an  unwillingness 
to  wait  God's  time,  was  wrong.  There  yet  remains  another 
form  in  which  the  temptation  may  come.  The  question 
which  might  be  supposed  to  be  uppermost  in  the  mind  of 
Jesus  was,  how  he  might  most  effectually  accomplish  his 
work.  The  great  changes  which  had  been  wrought,  even 
in  the  religious  ideas  and  institutions  of  mankind,  had  been 
accompanied,  if  not  actually  brought  about  and  impressed  on 
the  common  mind,  by  great  pohtical  and  social  rovolutions. 
It  was  so  that  Moses,  placed  in  the  exercise  of  his  mirac- 
ulous powers  at  the  head  of  the  Jewish  people,  led  them  out 
of  Egypt,  and  established  a  higher  worship  and  a  more  be- 
neficent law.  Why  then  may  not  Jesus,  in  establishing  a 
still  purer  faith  and  worship,  enlist  on  his  side  the  powers 
of  this  world  through  the  universal  dominion  to  which  he 
may  attain  by  the  exercise  of  his  marvellous  endowments  ? 
It  was  no  dream  of  earthly  ambition,  no  vulgar  thought  of 
royal  or  imperial  magnificence,  that  could  be  permitted  even  to 
approach  the  mind  of  Jesus,  still  less  to  throw  a  momentary 
shadow  over  it,  or  awaken  one  disturbing  emotion  or  desire. 
But  by  placing  himself  at  the  head  of  the  nations,  at  that 
grand  crisis  of  human  affairs,  might  he  not  more  speedily 
and  more  effectually  establish  the  kingdom  of  God  among 
men  than  through  the  ignominious  path  of  weakness,  sorrow, 
humiliation,  and  death  ?  May  he  not  in  this  way  save  his 
followers  from  the  mortification  and  sorrows  to  which  they 
must  be  exposed  ?  For  a  moment  the  thought  came  over 
him.  But  then,  how  shall  such  power  over  the  nations  be 
gained  ?     How  secure  the  earthly  throne  through  which  his 


MATTHEW    IV.    1-11.  75 

heavenly  kingdom  is  to  be  advanced  ?  There  is  but  one 
reply.  Only  by  falling  down  and  worshipping  the  prince  of 
this  world,  only  by  submitting  to  its  spirit  and  maxims,  only 
by  stooping  to  such  considerations  and  measures  as  may 
injfluence  worldly  minds,  can  he  bring  the  powers  of  the 
world  under  him.  The  cross,  which  he  has  seen  loominjr ' 
up  in  the  divine  majesty  of  humiliation  and  suffering  at  the 
very  entrance  into  his  kingdom,  must  be  lowered  before 
the  ensigns  of  earthly  greatness.  The  crown  of  righteous- 
ness, which  shines  Avith  no  earthly  splendors  and  for  no  mor- 
tal eyes,  must  grow  dim  and  pale  before  the  dazzling  glories 
of  an  earthly  diadem.  Those  great  words  hereafter  to  be 
uttered,  and  to  carry  terror  into  the  hearts  of  kings,  "  My 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,"  the  sublime  and  perfect  trust, 
which  in  the  very  hour  and  power  of  darkness  would  not 
call  in  even  the  legions  of  obedient  angels  to  enforce  his 
authority  or  defend  him  from  wrong,  must  give  way  to  the 
appeal  to  human  prejudices  and  passions,  to  the  marshalling 
of  hosts  and  the  bloody  caparisons  of  war,  that  so  the  Prince 
of  Peace  may  establish  his  reign  of  peace  upon  the  earth. 
The  thought  is  one  abhorrent  to  every  principle  of  his  na- 
ture and  his  religion.  The  motive  appealed  to  was  high  and 
pure ;  the  end  was  the  very  one  for  which  he  was  born  into 
the  world ;  but  the  means  Avere  bad.  Instantly  the  disguise 
of  the  tempter  is  torn  off,  and  his  dark  purposes  are  un- 
masked. "  If  only  thou  wilt  fall  down  and  worship  me." 
He  repels  alike  the  temptation  and  the  tempter  with  an 
energy  of  expression  which  shows  how  much  he  had  been 
disturbed  by  the  thought,  and  how  vehemently  he  abhors 
and  detests  the  blasphemous  condition  which  had  been  so 
artfully  concealed  within  it.  "  Get  thee  hence,  Satan  ;  for 
it  is  written  [Deut.  vi.  13],  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy 
God,  and  him  only  shalt  thou  serve."  It  is  remarkable,  that 
the  only  other  instance  in  which  our  Saviour  used  this  ener- 
getic expression  of  abhorrence  occurred  w^hen,  in  reply  to 
his  prediction  of  the  sufferings  and  shameful  death  which 


76  MATTHEW    IV.    1-11. 

awaited  him,  Peter  (Matt.  xvi.  23)  began  to  rebuke  liim  in    * 
words  which  implied  that  the  Messiah  could  not  thus  meanly 
and  ignobly  die.     This  wa^  the  one  suggestion  of  evil,  veil- 
ing itself  in  garments  of  light,,  which  he  met  with  the  sharp- 
est exhibition  of  sensibility  and  impatience. 

Here  the  Devil  left  him,  as  St.  Luke  says,  "  for  a  season," 
and  "  behold,  angels  came  and  ministered  unto  him."  There 
is  nothing  in  either  of  the  Evangelists  to  imply  that  the 
tempter  came  in  bodily  shape,  or  that  such  a  presence  was  rec- 
ognized in  any  other  way  than  by  the  nature  of  the  sug- 
gestions that  were  made.  Whether  there  really  is  a  prince 
of  darkness,  a  malignant  and  mighty  spirit,  who  had  access 
to  the  mind  of  Jesus,  with  power  to  instil  into  it  thoughts  of 
evil  under  the  guise  of  holiness  and  faith,  is  a  question  that  we 
shall  consider  more  fully  hereafter.  See  xiii.  24  —  30.  We 
know,  however,  too  little  of  the  unseen  world  of  spiritual  ex- 
istences, and  especially  of  the  dark  background  of  evil  Avhich 
lies  behind  all  actual  sin,  to  be  able  to  speak  with  confidence 
on  such  a  subject.  How  far  that  invisible  realm  of  life  may 
be  peopled  by  spiritual  beings  good  and  bad,  how  far,  if  at 
all,  the  two  orders  of  spiritual  beings  may  be  allowed  to  in- 
termingle and  carry  on  their  various  works,  what  limitations 
are  assigned  to  their  free  action,  and  how  the  kingdoms  of 
light  and  darkness  may  be  arrayed  one  against  the  other, 
are  questions  which  we  cannot  sj)eciiically  answer.  An  evil 
man  separated  from  the  body  is  an  evil  spirit.  There  is 
then,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  no  more  reason  why  evil  spirits 
should  not  exist  than  that  evil  men  should  not.  "  There  is 
nothing,"  says  Mr.  Norton,  (Translation  of  the  Gospels,  Vol. 
II.  pp.  Gl,  G2,)  "  in  the  idea  of  daemons  being  allowed  to 
affect  the  minds  and  bodies  of  men  irreconcilable  with  any- 
thing we  see  in  the  moral  government  of  God.  Tliere  is  no 
proof  a  priori  against  such  agency."  It  narrows  down  the 
world  in  which  Jesus  moved,  far  more  than  reason  gives  us 
any  warrant  for  doing,  to  cut  him  off  from  connection  with 
all  existences,  except  God  on  the  one  hand,  and  man  with 


MATTHEW    IV.    1  -  11.  77 

the  laws  and  forces  of  the  material  universe  on  the  other. 
We  cannot  say  how  far  the  work  of  redemption  in  which  he 
was  engaged  allied  to  itself  the  sympathy  and  employed  the 
assistance  and  fellowship  of  angels,  such  as  here  came  and 
ministered  to  him,  or  of  holy  men  in  their  spiritual  estate, 
SLicli  as  Moses  and  Elijah  who  tallxcd  with  him  on  the  moun- 
tain of  Transfiguration.  Neither  can  we  say  how  far  his 
mighty  work  of  redemption  may  have  reached  down  through 
realms  of  spiritual  darkness,  and  arrayed  against  him  the 
active  malignity  of  evil  spirits  as  well  as  of  wicked  men.  With- 
out the  recognition  of  such  existences  both  above  and  below, 
passages  in  his  life,  such  as  the  temptation,  the  transfigura- 
tion, the  agony,  the  cry  upon  the  cross,  to  which  the  won- 
dering and  trusting  instincts  of  his  followers  have  turned  in 
all  ages,  lose  much  of  their  sublime  moral  significance,  and 
their  mysterious  spiritual  power.  The  victory  which  he 
gained  in  the  wilderness  was  over  something  more  than  a 
passing  thought  of  evil,  which  of  itself  could  have  had  no 
power  to  shake  his  firm  and  sinless  mind.  It  was  the  first 
of  that  series  of  struggles  and  victories  through  which  he  was 
to  overthrow  the  very  empire  of  darkness,  and  "  destroy  him 
that  had  the  power  of  death." 

While  we  thus  view  the  temptation  as  one  which  actually 
occurred  to  Jesus  in  the  suggestion  of  thoughts  which  for  the 
time  disturbed  and  agitated  his  spirit,  we  may  see  in  it  an 
epitome  of  the  heaviest  temptations  that  can  assail  his  dis- 
ciples, and  of  the  way  in  which  they  should  be  overcome. 
There  are  the  temptations  of  desire,  —  the  love  of  enjoyment, 
the  love  of  admiration,  and  the  love  of  power,  not  presenting 
themselves  to  us  in  their  coarse  and  selfish  colors,  as  self-indul- 
gence, vanity,  and  ambition,  but  clothing  themselves  in  hue^i 
borrowed  from^heaven,  and  insinuating  themselves  into  our 
hearts  by  false  appeals  to  high  and  generous  and  holy  ends. 
There  is  no  sin  in  laboring  to  satisfy  our  bodily  wants ;  but 
to  concentrate  our  highest  and  best  gifts  on  this  work  is  to 
lose  sight  of  the  more  essential  truth,  that  we  are  to  live  not 
7* 


78  MATTHEW    IV.    12-16. 

by  bread  alone,  but  by  all  the  influences  and  teachings  of 
God.  In  that  way  the  soul  will  be  impoverished  by  the  low 
and  narrow  acts  to  which  it  is  devoted.  On  the  other  hand, 
in  a  high  and  religious  act,  throwing  ourselves  as  favored  ones 
of  heaven  on  the  special  providence  of  God,  that  through  the 
wonder  thus  excited  we  may  gain  over  advocates  to  his 
cause,  we  may  be  led  by  hidden  motives  of  personal  vanity 
unconsciously  to  tempt  and  provoke  that  Providence  whose 
leadings  we  ought  to  wait  for  and  obey.  Or  while  both  the 
end  and  the  motive  are  right,  in  our  impatient  zeal  to  ad- 
vance what  we  believe  to  be  the  cause  of  righteousness  and 
God,  we  may  be  tempted  to  stoop  to  unsanctified  means,  and 
to  consent  for  the  time  to  worship  even  the  Devil  in  his 
disguise,  if  only  he,  with  the  powers  which  have  been  com- 
mitted to  him,  will  help  us  on  in  our  work. 

12 -IG.  —  Makes  his  Home  in  Capernaum. 

From  the  Avay  in  Avhich  the  narrative  goes  on,  we  should 
suppose  that  the  events  recorded  in  the  twelfth  and  follow- 
ing verses  succeeded  immediately  to  the  Temptation.  But 
from  the  first  five  chapters  of  John,  we  find  that  a  considera- 
ble period  of  time  and  some  important  acts  here  intervened. 
Jesus,  immediately  after  the  Temptation,  had  come' to  John 
the  Baptist,  who  on  seeing  him  j^ronounced  to  his  followers 
the  remarkable  words,  "  Behold  the  lamb  of  God,  which 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world."  Jesus  then  returned 
to  Galilee  where  his  first  miracle  was  performed,  and  after- 
wards came  up  to  Jerusalem  to  the  Passover.  It  was 
probably  while  he  was  at  Jerusalem  that  he  heard  of 
John's  imprisonment,  which  led  him  to  hasten  his  return 
to  Galilee.  On  his  way  back  to  Galilee  he  had  the  con- 
versation with  the  woman  of  Samaria,  which  is  related  in 
the  fourth  chapter  of  John.  He  now  left  Nazareth  and 
took  up  his  abode  at  Capernaum,  which  was  near  the 
northwest    corner  of  the   Sea   of  Galilee,  though  its  pre- 


MATTHEW    IV.    17-22.  79 

cise  locality  is  not  known  with  certainty.  The  quotation 
from  the  Old  Testament  is  part  of  the  remarkable  passage 
already  alluded  to  in  the  first  chapter  of  Matthew,  and 
might  well  be  employed  by  the  writer  to  call  the  atten- 
tion of  his  Jewish  readers  to  the  extraordinary  events 
which  he  is  about  to  record  as  in  some  sense  a  fulfilment 
of  the  hardly  less  extraordinary  prediction.  Isa.  viii.  22 ; 
ix.  1-7. 


17-22.  —  The  Call   of   Simon  Peter   and  Andrew  his 
Brother,  and  of  John  and  his  Brother  James. 

The  readiness  with  which  this  call  was  obeyed  would 
indicate  some  previous  knowledge  of  Jesus  on  their  part, 
such  as  we  find  (John  i.  35-42)  that  they  actually  had. 
The  expectations  excited  by  John  the  Baptist  were  kept 
intensely  alive  by  Jesus,  though  he  had  not  yet  publicly 
declared  himself  to  be  the  Messiah.  His  proclamation 
(iv.  17)  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  Baptist :  "  Repent ;  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  But  while  he  used 
and  continued  to  use  words  familiar  to  the  Jews  as  de- 
scribing an  earthly  kingdom,  he  took  them  up,  as  he  did 
so  many  other  Jewish  phrases,  into  a  higher  plane  of 
thought,  and  gradually  invested  them  with  a  higher  mean- 
ing and  a  purer  spirit.  He  did  not  institute  a  new  re- 
ligious language;  but  by  a  change  of  heart  and  life  and 
thought  through  the  great  truths  which  he  proclaimed,  he 
would  fill  out  old  and  familiar  expressions  with  new  ideas, 
and  make  them  glow  with  the  new  light  which  he  had 
thrown  into  them. 

23  -  25.  The  nature  of  the  diseases  which  are  here  speci- 
fied, and  the  character  of  his  miracles,  will  be  more  prop- 
erly considered  in  the  specific  cases  as  they  occur  hereafter. 


80 


MATTHEW    IV. 


NOTES. 

THEiSr  "was  Jesus  led  up  of  the  Spirit  into  the  wiklerness,  to 
be  tempted  of  the  devil.  And  when  he  had  fasted  forty  days 
and  forty  nights,  he  was  afterward  an  hungered.  And  when 
the  tempter  came  to  him,  he  said  :  If  thou  be  the  Son  of  God, 
command  that  these  stones  be  made  bread.  But  he  answered 
and  said.  It  is  written,  "Man  shall  not  hve  by  bread  alone. 


1.  Led  up  of  the  Spirit]  Luke 
says :  "  Aiid  Jesus,  being  full  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  returned  from  Jordan, 
and  was  led  by  the  Spirit  into  the 
wilderness;"  i.  e.  Jesus,  filled  with 
the  spirit  of  God,  and  therefore  de- 
siring a  season  of  solitude,  was  led 
up  into  the  wilderness,  whei*e  he 
might  give  himself  up  entirely  to 
the  thoughts  and  emotions  which 
pressed  tipon  him,  and  rapt  him  as 
it  were  in  an  ecstasy  so  absorbing 
that  for  the  time  all  consideration 
of  eai-thly  things,  even  of  his  own 
bodily  wants,  was  forgotten. 

the  Avilderness]  Probably  the 
wild  and  mountainous  region  above 
Jericho,  which,  from  the  forty  days, 
is  called  Qunrantaria.  Others  sup- 
pose it  to  liave  been  the  Arabian  des- 
ert of  Sinai,  where  Moses  and  Elijah 
each  fiisted  forty  days.  We  do  not 
think  that  Jesus  attached  any  im- 
portance to  such  coincidences  in 
time  or  place.  His  teachings  and 
his  life  belong  to  a  higher  sphere  of 
thought.  to  be  tempted] 

Ja  order,  or  so  as  to  be  tempted; 
the  result  put  as  if  it  had  been  the 
design.  He  was  so  filled  with  the 
spirit  of  God,  that  he  sought  for 
himself  a  solitaiy  place  where  he 
might  give  himself  up  entirely  to 
Him,  and  there,  after  his  physical 
energies  had  become  entirely  ex- 
hausted, was  a  reaction  in  his  mind. 
of  the  devil]  For  this 
word  see  Dis.  here  and  XHI.,  and 
Note  xiii.  39.  2.  fasted 

forty  days  and  forty  nig^hts] 
In  regard  to  the  Oriental  use  of 
language  in  our  day,  Thomson,  I. 
132,  says :  "  You  may  take  this  as 
a  general  canon  of  interpretation, 


that  any  amount  much  less  than 
iisual  means  '  nothing '  in  their  dia- 
lect ;  and  if  you  understand  more  by 
it,  you  are  misled.  Li  fact,  their 
ordinary  fasting  is  only  abstaining 
from  certain  kinds  of  food,  not  from 
all,  nor  does  the  word  convey  any 
other  idea  to  them."  It  may,  how- 
ever, be  taken  here  in  its  stricter 
meaning.  Luke  says,  iv.  2,  "  And 
in  those  days  he  did  eat  nothing." 
3.  And  Avhen  the 
tempter  came  to  him]  He  was 
hungry,  and  in  his  hunger  the  temj^t- 
er  came  to  him.  Oppressed  with 
hunger,  his  mind  reverted  to  the 
words  spoken  at  his  baptism,  "  This 
is  my  beloved  son ;  "  and  the  thought 
was  suggested  to  him,  ''  If  thovi  art 
really  the  Son  of  God,  turn  these 
stones  into  bread,  and  relieve  thy 
necessities."  But  immediately  he 
replies  to  the  suggestion,  from  what- 
ever source  it  may  have  come ; 

4.  It  is  Avritten,  Man  shall 
not  live  by  bread  alone]  "  Even 
ill  bread  man  lives  not  by  bread  only, 
for  is  not  the  life  more  than  meat  ? 
Is  not  the  word,  the  will,  the  power 
of  God  in  everything ;  so  that  we  do 
not  inhale  our  very  breath  from  the 
air  [alone],  but  from  the  breath  of 

God  ? In  the  deepest  meaning 

of  the  essential  and  only  truth,  all 
ihinffs  in  the  world,  after  their  kind, 
are  only  variously  embodied  words 
of  the  Creator,  inasmuch  as  by  his 
mighty  Avord  alone  they  are  upheld 

in  being What  is  man  ?    Not 

the  body  with  its  earthly,  animal 
soul,  but  the  true  and  proper  man, 
that  is,  the  living  spirit  which  came 
forth  from  God,  which  onlv  lives  in 
and  by  the  spirit  of  God,  Avhich  con- 


MATTHEW   IV. 


81 


but  by  every  word  tbat  proceedetli  out  of  the  mouth  of  God." 

5  Then  the  devil  taketh  him  up  into  the  holy  city,  and  setteth 

6  him  on  a  pinnacle  of  the  temple ;  and  saith  unto  him,  If  thou 
be  the  Son  of  God,  cast  thyself  down  ;  for  it  is  written,  "  He 
shall  give  his  angels  charge  concerning  thee ;  and  in  their 
hands  they  shall  bear  thee  up,  lest  at  any  time  thou  dash  thy 

7  foot  against  a  stone."    Jesus  said  unto  him:  It  is  written  again, 

8  "  Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord  thy  God."  Again,  the  devil 
taketh  him  up  into  an  exceeding  high  mountain,  and  showeth 
him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  the  glory  of  them,  and 

9  saith  unto  him,  All  these  things  will  I  give  thee,  if  thou  wilt 
10  fall  down  and  worship  me.     Then  saith  Jesus  unto  him :  Get 

thee  hence,  Satan  ;  for  it  is  written,  "  Thou  shalt  worship  the 


tinually  goes  forth  as  rcord  for  the 

preservation  of  the  creature , 

But  this  leads  us  further  and  fiu-- 
ther ;  and '  not  alone '  vindicates  again 
the  true  life  of  man  in  God,  against 
such  as  in  their  error  cleave  to  any 
institution  of  the  means  of  life,  as  if 
it  Avas  not  God  alone  in  them  that 
gave  them  efhcacy.  As  a  general 
rule  the  word  of  God,  externally 
"WTitten  and  preached,  is  given  for 
the  food  of  the  inner  man ;  but  inas- 
much as  the  living  word  of  God  in 
the  word  is  the  true  word,  thou 
mayest,  if  it  be  his  will,  Avithout 
Scripture  and  preaching,  live  by 
his  spirit;  without  intercourse  with 
brethren  be  connected  with  the 
Church;  even  Avithout  the  physical 
bread  of  the  sacrament,  receive, 
nevertheless,  the  heaA-enly  bread. 
Every  manna  given  by  God  in  the 
creatm-ely  form  is  a  Avitness  that 
points  beyond  itself  to  the  imme- 
diate outgoing  of  God's  life  for  the 
life  of  man."     Stier.  5. 

pinnacle  of  the  temple]  vrre- 
pvyiov^  loing^  "  spoken  of  the  high- 
est point  of  the  temple  buildings, 
probably  the  elevation  of  the  middle 
portion  of  the  triple  portico  or  colon- 
nade along  the  southern  wall,  Avhich 
at  its  eastei-n  end  impended  OA'cr 
the  A^alley  of  Kidron ;  so  that  if  from 
its  roof  one  attempted  to  look  doA\-n 
into  the  gulf  beloAv,  his  eyes  became 
dark  and  dizzy  before  they  could 
penetrate  the  immense  deptii;  Jos. 


Axit.  XV.  11.  5.  The  actual  height 
aboA-e  the  bottom  of  the  valley  Avas 
probably  not  less  than  three  hun- 
dred and  ten  feet."     Robinson. 

7.  "  Wherein  consists 
the  tempting  of  God  on  the  part  of 
man?  It  is  the  complete  opposite 
of  the  seeking  in  fliith,  of  the  AA-ait- 
ing  upon  God  in  the  obedience  and 
confidence  of  trust,  a  self-Avilled 
demand  of  the  mighty  help  of  God; 
and  consequently  unbelief,  disobe- 
dience, and  distrust  are  its  inner- 
most principles EA^ery  sin  in 

its  innermost  principle  is,  properly 
si^eaking,  a  tempting  and  challeng- 
ing of  God;  since  he  A\-ho  should 
obey  tests  the  Almighty  Avhether 
the  Avay  of  his  OAvn  seli-Avill  shall 
not  prosper.  But  then,  particularly, 
Avlieu  the  unbelief  and  disobedience 
of  sclf-Avill  presses  forAvard  in  Avhat 
is  folse  presumption,  though  seem- 
ingly only  a  firm  confidence  in 
promised  assistance,  as  if  God  must 
and  should  hearken  to  it;  this  is 
the  marked  aggravation  of  sin,  to 
Avhich  Satan  here  allures."  Stier. 
10.  Get  thee  hence, 
Satan]  The  term  Satan  may  here 
be  applied  to  the  evil  suggestion,  as 
it  is  in  xvi.  23.  and  him  only] 
Dent.  vi.  13;  x.  20.  The  quotation, 
like  most  of  the  quotations  in  Mat- 
thcAv,  is  from  the  Septuagint,  and  not 
from  the  HebreAV,  Avhcre  the  Avord 
meaning  only  is  not  to  be  foimd. 

li.  Then  the  devil  leaveth 


g2 


MATTHEW    IV. 


Lord  thy  God,  and  him  only  shalt  thou  serve."     Then  the  devil  ii 
leaveth  him ;  and,  behold,  angels  came   and  ministered  unto 
him. 

Now  when  Jesus  had  heard  that  John  was  cast  into  prison,  1-2 
he  departed  into  Galilee.     And  leaving  Nazareth,  he  came  13 
and  dwelt  in  Capernaum,  which  is  upon  the  sea-coast,  in  the 
borders  of  Zabulon  and  Nephthalim  ;  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  u 


Mm,  and,  behold,  angels  came 
and  ministered  unto  him]    The 

presence  of  the  evil  spirit  and  the 
ministry  of  the  angels  rest  here  on 
the  same  authority.  But  we  must 
not  confound  our  popular  idea  of 
the  devil  with  that  of  the  Evange- 
list. Still  less  are  we  to  confound 
with  it  the  philosophical  idea  bor- 
rowed from  the  East,  which  makes 
the  prince  of  darkness  the  almost 
equal  antagonist  of  God.  Whatever 
else  they  may  teach  on  this  sub- 
ject, the  Gospels  lend  no  counte- 
nance to  any  such  doctrine  as  tliis. 
The  most  that  can  be  legitimately 
inferred  from  them  is,  that  there  are 
evil  spirits,  and  one  at  their  head, 
"  the  devil  and  his  angels,"  xxiv. 
41,  who,  within  certain  limits  al- 
lowed by  God,  may  have  the  power 
of  suggesting  evil  thoughts.  There 
is  nothing  in  this  chapter  to  show 
that  Satan  appeared  in  bodily  form 
or  to  the  outward  eye,  even  if  we 
suppose  the  language  to  mean  that 
he  was  personally  present.  All  that 
is  implied,  even  on  that  supposition, 
is,  that  Satan,  seeing  our  Saviour's 
helpless  condition, — 

"  111  wast  thou  shrouded  then,  0  patient 
Sonof  God!"  — 

took  advantage  of  his  weariness, 
exhaustion,  and  consequent  de- 
pression, and  suggested  to  him  the 
thoughts  here  recorded,  as  if  they 
had  been  the  spontaneous  sug- 
gestions of  his  own  mind.  There  is 
nothing  Avhich  proves  it  to  have  been 
the  Avriter's  intention  to  say  that  he 
transported  Jesus  bodily  to  the  tem- 
jDle  and  mountain.  Tlie  most  that 
can  be  inferred  is,  that  he  took  him 
away  in  thought  or  in  spirit,  pre- 
senting to  him  these  objects  and 
suggestions  so  vivid Iv  that  the  whole 


transaction  seemed  as  if  it  had  ac- 
tually passed  before  him.  "  The 
temptation  of  Jesus,"  says  Olshau- 
sen,  "  stands  as  one  of  those  decisive 
events,  such  as  are  met  with  in  a 
lower  degree  in  common  life  also, 
and  which,'  by  the  determination 
that  Ave  take  in  them,  give  a  direc- 
tion to  the  whole  after-life.  The 
Saviour  here  appears  as  standing 
between  the  two  Avorlds  of  light  and 
darkness.  As  the  hostile  powers 
fled,  heavenly  powers  surrounded 
him,  and  joined  in  celebrating  the 
victory  of  good."  "  Since,"  he  con- 
tinues, "  the  temptation  of  Jesus 
took  place  in  the  depth  of  his  in- 
ward life  without  Avitnesses,  we  must 
regard  the  narration  of  Jesus  as  the 
only  somxe  of  information  and  tes- 
timony to  its  reality."  13. 
And  leaving  "Nazareth,  he 
came  and  dwelt  in  Caperna- 
um] "  Nazareth,  Kefr,  Kenna, 
Kana,  and  all  the  regions  adja- 
cent, Avhere  our  Lord  lived,  and 
where  he  commenced  his  ministry, 
and  by  his  miracles  'manifested 
forth  his  glory,'  Avere  Avithin  the 
limits  of  Zebulon;  but  Capernaum, 
Chorazin,  and  Bethsaida  Avere  in 
Naphtali.  It  AA-as  this  latter  tribe 
that  Avas  '  by  the  Avay  of  the  sea  be- 
yond Jordan',  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles.' 
Zebulon  did  not  touch  the  sea  at  any 
point,  but  the  territories  of  these  tAvo 
tribes  met  at  the  northeast  corner  of 
the  Biittauf,  not  for  from  Kana,  and 
Avithin  these  tAvo  tribes  thus  united 
our  Lord  passed  nearly  the  whole  of 
his  Avonderful  life."  Thomson,  IL 
122,  123.  14,  15.  which 
Avas  spoken  by  Esaias]  The 
passage  here  folloAving  is  a  fre3 
quotation  from  Isa.  ix.  1,  2.  Dr. 
Noyes's  translation  from  the  He- 
brcAV  is  as  folloAvs:  — 


MATTHEW    IV.  83 

15  which  was  spoken  by  Esalas  the  prophet,  saying :  "  The  land 
of  Zabulon,  and  the  land  of  Nephthalim,  by  the  way  of  the 

16  sea,  beyond  Jordan,  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles,  the  people  which 
sat  in  darkness  saw  great  light ;  and  to  them  which  sat  in  the 

17  region  and  shadow  of  death  light  is  sprung  up." From 

that  time  Jesus  began  to  preach,  and  to  say :  Hepent ;  for  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand. 

18  And  Jesus,  walking  by  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  saw  two  brethren, 
Simon  called  Peter;  and  Andrew  his  brother,  casting  a  net 

19  into  the  sea  ;  for  they  were  fishers.     And  he  saith  unto  them  : 

20  Follow  me,  and  I  will  make  you  fishers  of  men.     And  they 
.21  straightway  left  their  nets,  and  followed  him.     And  going  on 

from  thence,  he  saw  other  two  brethren,  James  the  son  of  Zeb- 
edee,  and  John  his  brother,  in  a  ship  with  Zebedee  their  father, 

22  mending  their  nets ;  and  he  called  them.  And  they  imme- 
diately left  the  ship  and  their  father,  and  followed  him. 

23  And  Jesus  went  about  all  Galilee,  teaching  in  their  syna- 
gogues, and  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing 
all  manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  disease  among  the 

24  people.  And  his  fame  went  throughout  all  Syria ;  and  they 
brought  unto  him  all  sick  people,  that  were  taken  with  divers 
diseases  and  torments,  and  those  which  were  possessed  with 


1  "But  the  darkness  shall  not  remain  7    "  His  domain  shall  be  great. 

where  no.v  is  distress  ;  And  peace  without  end  shall  rest 

Of  old  he  brought  the  land  of  Zebuloa  Upon  the   throne  of   David  and    his 

and  the  land  of  Nephtali  into  con-  kingdom, 

tempt ;  lie  shall  fix  and  establish  it 

In  future  times  shall  he  bring  the  land  Through  justice  and  equity, 

of  the  sea,  bevond  the  Jordan,  the  Henceforth  and  forever." 

circle  of  the  Gentiles,  into  honor.  ^,  .     ,.«,      li.  i.                      . i     .  .i  . 

It  la  dimctilt  to  suppose  that  this 

2  "  The  people  that  walk  in  darkness  language  was    intended  to  express 

be  .old  a  great  light ;  nothing    more    than    the    temporal 

They  who  d«ell  in  the  land  of  death-  pvosperitv   of  the    land   under  anv 

Upon  uS';  light  shineth.  one  of  its  kings.             23.  in  their 

synagogues]       "  Synagogues   are 

5    "  For  the  greaves  of  the  warrior  armed  not  mentioned  till  after  the  captivi- 

for  the  contiict,  tv.    See  Jos.  Ant.,  XIX.  6.  3 ;  De  Bel. 

And  the  war-garments  rolled  in  blood.  Jufl    VH.  3.  3.     In  the  time  of  Jesus 

^  food  for'^theflri:  ^'''''  ^^^"^  ''''''^  ^^  ^^'^y  '^'^^'^  spread  all  over  Palestine, 


ire. 


as  well  as  among  the  dispersed  Jew^ 


1   "  For  to  us  a  child  is  born,  in  Jerusalem  there  are  said  to  have 

To  u.s  a  son  is  given,  been    four   Imndred  and  eightv  of 

And  the  government  shall  be  npnn  his  them."     Ol.^hau^en.     The  officers  of 

AndTe'sSu  be  called  the  synagogue  appear  to  have  been, 

AVonderful,  counsellor,  mighty  poten-  —1-   tlie    ruler   of    the    synagogue, 

tate ;  Luke  viii.  49;  xiii.  14,  who  had  the 

Everlasting  father,  prince  of  peace.  care-of  public  order,  and  the  arrange- 


84 


Mx\.TTIIEW    IV. 


devils,  and  those  which  were  lunatic,  and  those  that  had  the 
palsy ;  and  he  healed  them.     And  there  followed  him  great  25 
multitudes  of  people  from   Galilee,  and  from  Decapolis,  and 
from  Jerusalem,  and  from  Judaea,  and  from  beyond  Jordan. 


ment  of  the  service ;  2.  the  elders, 
-who  -with  the  ruler  formed  a  sort  of 
council;  3.  the  substitute  or  angel 
of  the  assembly,  —  legatus.  or  angdus 
eccltske,  —  who  was  the  reader  of 
prayers,  &c. ;  4.  the  VTrTjfi€Tr]s,  or 
chapel  clerk,  to  prepare  the  books 
for  readiug,  to  sweep,  &c.    There 


were  seats,  the  first  row  of  which 
appear  to  have  been  coveted,  Matt, 
xxiii.  6;  a  pulpit  for  the  reader, 
lamps,  and  a  chest  for  keeping  tlie 
sacred  book."  From  this  account  it 
is  easy  to  see  how  the  Christian 
Church,  with  its  service,  grew  out 
of  the  Jewish  synagogue. 


MATTHEW  v^  85 


CHAPTER     Y. 

Introduction  to  the  Sermon  on  the  ]\Iount. 

The  precise  order  of  events  is  not  observed  by  St. 
Matthew.  He  does  not  distinctly  point  out  the  time  when 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was  given.  After  a  passage, 
iv.  23  -  25,  which,  in  its  general  terms  applying  to  Christ's 
manner  of  life  and  the  extent  of  territory  which  he  visited, 
may  cover  no  small  part  of  his  ministry  in  Galilee,  this 
particular  discourse  is  specified ;  but,  except  what  might 
be  inferred  from  the  part  of  the  narrative  in  which  it 
occurs,  no  reference  is  made  to  the  time  when  it  was  given. 
It  is  very  much  as  if  the  writer  had  said,  Jesus  went  for 
a  considerable  period  of  time  through  an  extensive  region, 
performing  miraculous  cures  and  attended  by  great  multi- 
tudes of  people.  On  one  occasion,  when  he  saw  an  immense 
concourse  of  people  who  had  come  from  Galilee  and  De- 
capolis,  from  Jerusalem  and  Judoea,  and  from  beyond  the 
Jordan,  he  went  up  into  a  mountain.  Luke  vi.  12-18,  on 
the  other  hand,  indicates  the  time  and  the  circumstances. 
It  was  just  after  Jesus  had  chosen  his  twelve  disciples. 
He  had  retired  into  a  mountain  to  spend  the  night  in 
prayer.  And  in  the  morning,  having  set  apart  his  twelve 
disciples,  he  came  down  to  a  level  spot  on  the  mountain, 
and  there,  when  great  multitudes  had  come  to  him,  and 
he  had  healed  their  sick,  "  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  on  his  dis- 
ciples," and,  addressing  himself  particularly  to  them,  uttered 
these  words.  The  fact  of  his  speaking  particularly  to  his 
disciples  must  be  borne  in  mind,  in  order  to  understand 
the  extent  and  bearing  of  some  of  the  directions.  Though 
containing  principles  applicable  to  all  his  followers  in  all 


86  MATTHEW    V. 

ages,  they  were  primarily  addressed  to  the  Apostles,  and 
have  some  specific  rules  which  api)ly  particularly  to  them 
and  to  those  who  may  be  situated  as  they  were. 

Jesus  had  as  yet  made  no  public  proclamation  of  the 
character  of  his  kingdom.  The  multitudes  were  gathering 
round  him  in  eager  expectation  of  the  time  when  he  would 
raise  the  standard  under  which  they  should  march  on  to 
victory  and  universal  dominion.  They  thought  only  of 
an  outward,  visible  kingdom,  whose  throne  should  be  estab- 
lished by  overthrowing  existing  governments,  and  placing 
the  Jewish  people,  under  their  divine  leader,  at  the  head 
of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  The  visions  of  warlike 
conquest,  of  earthly  glory  and  power,  which  had  attended 
them  through  so  many  centuries,  sweetening  the  cup  of 
present  sorrow,  defeat,  and  captivity  with  the  hope  of 
future  triumph  over  all  their  enemies,  were  now  about 
to  be  realized.  The  long-expected  Messiah  had  made 
his  advent  at  last.  Thousands  were  thronging  about  him, 
anxiously  awaiting  from  him  the  signal  for  their  national 
deliverance.  Under  circumstances  of  extraordinary  solem- 
nity he  was  now  about  to  inaugurate  his  kingdom.  The 
excitement  is  intense  and  overpowering. 

The  terms  used  by  the  Evangelists  Matthew  and  Luke 
would  seem,  as  Tholuck  and  Olshausen  say,  to  indicate  the 
peculiar  solemnity  of  the  occasion.  "  He  lifted  up  his 
eyes  on  his  disciples,"  as  if  aware  that  the  great  crisis 
in  man's  liistory  had  come,  and  that  he  was  now  about  to 
proclaim  for  the  first  time  a  kingdom  such  as  never  before 
had  been  established  on  earth.  The  expression,  "  having 
opened  his  mouth,"  implies  a  previous  silence,  in  which 
the  impatient  expectations  of  the  people  were  painfully 
suppressed.  At  last  he  opened  his  mouth,  and  what  are 
the  words  which  come  to  them  ?  They  are  ready  for  deeds 
of  violence.  They  would  take  up  arms  to  throw  off  the 
Roman  yoke.  Tiiey  have  come  to  receive  the  benedic- 
tion   of  their   great   deliverer   before   enlistinsr    under   his 


MATTHEW    V.    3  -  16.  87 

banner  for  the  wars  in  which  he  is  to  lead  them  on  to 
what  the  prophet  Daniel  had  described  when  he  said, 
vii.  14,  "  There  was  given  him  dominion  and  glory  and 
a  kingdom,  that  all  j^jeople,  nations,  and  languages  should 
serve  him :  his  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  whicli 
shall  not  pass  away,  and  his  kingdom,  that  which  shall 
not  be  destroyed." 

3-16.  —  The  Beatitudes. 

But  all  these  expectations,  all  their  hopes  of  external 
dominion  and  glory,  are  thrown  down  and  destroyed  for- 
ever by  the  first  words  that  fall  from  the  lips  of  him  to 
whom  they  had  looked  as  their  Messiah.  His  benedic- 
tions are  not  for  the  mighty  men  of  war,  for  those  who 
make  their  way  to  positions  of  wealth  and  power,  and  who 
are  honored  among  men.  But,  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
spirit ;  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn ;  Blessed  are  they 
wdio  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness ;  Blessed  are 
the  meek ;  Blessed  are  the  merciful,  the  pure  in  heart, 
the  peacemakers."  And,  as  if  this  were  not  enough  to 
crush  all  the  worldly  hopes  with  which  they  had  come 
to  him,  he  still  more  pointedly  adds,  "  Blessed  are  ye 
when  men  shall  revile  you,  and  persecute  you,  and  shall 
say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely,  for  my  sake." 
Here,  in  his  prophetic  mind,  seeing  as  already  present 
the  spiritual  victories  which  are  to  be  gained  through  ol)- 
loquy,  persecution,  and  death,  he  breaks  out,  for  the  moment, 
into  a  lyric  strain  of  exultation  such  as  we  find  only  on  two 
or  three  other  occasions  in  his  life.  He  calls  on  his  follow- 
ers to  rejoice,  and  be  exceeding  glad.  He  sees  in  them 
even  now  the  grand  conservative  element  of  society,  the 
salt  of  the  earth,  which,  amid  the  general  corruption  and 
decay,  shall  save  the 'world  from  death.  Amid  the  almost 
universal  darkness  they  are  to  be  the  light  of  the  world,  — 
a  light  so  shining  before  men  that  they,  seeing  their  good 
works,  shall  glorify  their  Father  who  is  in  heaven. 


88  MATTHKW    V.    17-48. 

And  from  that  day  to  this  how  true  have  these  words  of 
Jesus  been  in  their  apphcation  to  those  who  have  done  most 
for  the  advancement  of  his  kingdom !  "  Holy  men,"  says 
Mr.  Norton,  Tracts  on  Christianity,  p.  144,  "have  suffered 
and  died  to  procure  for  us  the  privileges  which  we  enjoy. 

They  have  followed  in  the  track  of  pure  splendor, 

in  which  their  great  Master  ascended  to   heaven 

There  is  something  very  solemn  and  sublime  in  the  feeling 
produced  by  considering  how  differently  these  men  have 
been  estimated  by  their  contemporaries,  from  the  manner  in 
which  they  are  regarded  by  God.  We  perceive  the  appeal 
which  lies  from  the  ignorance,  the  folly,  and  the  iniquity  of 
man  to  the  throne  of  Eternal  Justice.  A  storm  of  calumny 
and  reviling  pursued  them  through  life,  and  continued,  when 
they  could  no  longer  feel  it,  to  beat  upon  their  graves.  But 
it  is  no  matter.  They  have  gone  where  all  who  have  suf- 
fered, and  all  who  have  triumphed,  in  the  same  noble  cause, 
receive  their  reward  ;  but  where  the  wreath  of  the  martyr  is 
more  glorious  than  that  of  the  conqueror."  This  triumph 
through  death,  this  crown  of  martyrdom  more  joyful  and 
glorious  than  all  the  insignia  of  earthly  greatness  or  success, 
was  first  announced  by  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  and  held  up  by  him  as  the  last  and  highest  of  the 
Beatitudes. 


17-48.  —  Fulfilling  the  Law  axd  the  Prophets. 

But  this  mode  of  teaching  looks  like  an  attempt  to  do 
away  with  the  old  dispensation,  or  to  make  it  of  no  account. 
Such  a  purpose  would  prejudice  against  him,  not  Pharisees 
alone,  but  even  the  humble-minded  and  devout  Jews  who 
have  been  waiting  for  his  coming.  He  therefore  declares 
that  he  has  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil,  the  law  and  the 
prophets.  *'  Till  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  not  one 
jot  or  one  tittle  [jot,  the  least  letter  in  the  Hebrew  alphabet, 
and  tittle,  a  flight  mark  or  corner  of  a  letter],  not  the  small- 


MATTHEW    V.    17-48.  89 

est  letter  or  stroke,  shall  pass  away  from  the  law,  till  all  be 
fulfilled."  But  he  did  destroy  the  ceremonial  law  of  Moses. 
In  what  sense  then  did  he  come  to  fLilfil  it  ?  In  that  sense, 
we  may  reply,  in  which  it  Avas  intended  from  the  beginning 
that  it  should  be  fulfilled.  It  came  from  God.  It  embodied 
its  holy  principles  and  its  prophetic  life  in  outward  ceremo- 
nies adapted  to  a  rude  and  idolatrous  age.  It  spoke  to  the 
coarse,  dull  minds  it  met,  through  such  a  language  as  they 
could  understand,  of  symbols,  types,  and  sacrificial  obser- 
vances. It  went  on  from  age  to  age,  with  judges  and  proph- 
ets, unfolding  its  deeper  meaning  with  the  advancing  intel- 
ligence of  the  nation,  writing  out  its  expanding  history  of 
obedience  and  disobedience  with  their  swiftly  following  retri- 
butions, in  the  progress  of  the  race,  pouring  out  its  devo- 
tions in  hymns  and  psalms  and  spiritual  songs,  giving  utter- 
ance to  its  hopes  in  prophecies  wdiich  flashed  on  with  their 
sublime  anticipations  through  distant  centuries,  till  at  length 
all  law  and  history,  hymn  and  prophecy,  should  be  taken 
up  into  the  life  towards  which  they  had  always  been  pointing, 
and  find  their  fulfilment  in  the  spiritual  religion,  the  kingdom 
of  God,  which  Jesus  came  to  establish  on  earth,  and  which  in 
its  saintly  fellowship  reaches  up  from  earth  to  heaven.  Thus, 
the  law,  according  to  its  sacred  and  original  design,  was 
not  destroyed  but  fulfilled,  when  in  the  fulness  of  time  it  left 
behind  its  now  wearisome  and  ineffectual  forms,  and  took  up 
its  sinless  abode  in  Jesus  Christ,  condensing  its  instructions 
into  his  words,  appealing  to  men  through  him  as  a  divine 
life,  and  concentrating  into  his  death  the  infinite  treasures  of 
divine  love,  mercy,  and  forgiveness,  which  had  been  poorly 
symbolized  to  the  burdened  heart  of  man  by  the  ark  of  the 
covenant,  the  mercy-seat,  and  the  sacrifices,  in  the  wilder- 
ness or  the  temple,  through  so  many  centuries. 

Jesus  fulfils  the  law  and  the  prophets  first,  of  all  by  tak- 
ing up  and  condensing  into  his   own  w^ords   the  life-giving 
spirit   which  pervaded  them.     Thus,  as  Cyprian  long  ago 
remarked,  he  has  sometimes  given  one  or  two  precepts,  e.  g. 
8* 


90  MATTllKW    V.    17-48. 

Matt.  vii.  12,  or  xxii.  37-40,  on  which,  as  he  said,  "hang 
all  the  law  and  the  prophets."  In  this  way  he  shows  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  how  the  law  and  the  prophets  are  to  be 
fulfilled,  not  by  a  literal,  heartless,  and  formal  observance  ; 
for  unless  their  "  righteousness,"  i.  e.  in  this  connection,  their 
obedience  to  the  law,  should  be  something  more  than  that  of 
the  Scribes  who  taught  and  the  Pharisees  who  formally  ob- 
served its  precepts,  they  could  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
the  heavens. 

Then,  by  a  few  illustrations  which  go  to  the  very  root  of 
the  matter,  in  a  manner  more  masterly  than  anything  else 
in  the  range  of  legal  or  metaphysical  analysis,  he  seizes  on 
the  principle  which  underlies  the  form  and  gives  its  mean- 
ing to  the  enactment,  and  shows  how  the  law,  defeated  often 
and  made  of  none  effect  by  an  obedience  which  is  confined 
to  a  literal  observance  of  its  j)recepts,  is  really  to  be  fulfilled 
only  by  obedience  to  its  spirit  and  intention. 

The  law,  21,  forbids  the  act  of  murder.  But  do  they 
therefore  keep  the  law  in  its  purest  intention  who  observe 
this  precept  and  yet  cherish  an  angry,  contemptuous,  or 
malicious  spirit,  which  is  in  itself  the  soul  and  essence  of 
murder  ? 

The  law,  27,  forbids  adultery,  and  so  far  has  respect  to 
our  human  weakness  and  hardness  of  heart,  xix.  8,  as  to 
allow  the  separation  of  man  and  wife,  provided  that  certain 
legal  forms  are  observed.  But  the  true  intention  of  the  law, 
which  looks  to  chastity  as  belonging  to  the  soul  as  well  as  to 
the  body,  goes  beyond  the  outward  act.  It  would  pluck  out 
the  eye  that  tempts  to  sin,  cut  off  the  offending  hand,  and 
allow  nothing  but  death,  or  that  violation  of  the  great  and 
essential  law  of  conjugal  fidelity  which  is  in  itself  a  dissolu- 
tion of  the  marriage  tie,  to  interfere  with  the  permanency  of 
that  relation,  which,  as  an  Apostle  has  said,  Eph.  v.  32,  "is 
a  great  mystery,"  which  enters  the  inmost  springs  of  social 
and  domestic  purity,  and  touches  at  its  source  the  fountain 
of  life  to  every  child  that  comes  into  the  world. 


MATTHEW   V.    17-48.  Ol 

The  law,  33,  forbids  perjury.  But  obedience  to  this  neg- 
ative precept  does  not  answer  the  intention  of  the  law,  which 
finds  its  fulfilment  only  in  such  a  state  of  inward  integrity 
and  reverence  for  God  and  the  truth,  that  a  man's  word  will 
be  as  sacred  as  an  oath ;  and  consequently  oaths  themselves 
in  the  dealing  of  Christians  with  one  another  will  be  super- 
fluous, and  therefore,  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  third 
commandment,  profane.  Especially  will  this  principle  cut 
off  those  foolish  forms  of  oaths  then  common  among  the 
Jews,  which  were  made  for  evasion  and  dishonesty,  and 
which,  as  Jesus  declared  in  another  place  (Matt,  xxiii.  IG  — 
22),  are  sacrilegious  and  profane.  "If,"  says  Philo  Judajus, 
"  a  man  must  swear,  and  is  so  inclined,  let  him  add,  if  he 
pleases,  not  indeed  the  highest  name  of  all,  and  the  most  im- 
portant cause  of  all  things,  but  the  earth,  the  sun,  the  stars, 
the  heaven,  the  universal  world,"  &c.,  &c.,  (Bohn's  Philo 
Judffius,  III.  p.  256,)  so  as  to  evade  the  third  command- 
ment. There  does  not  seem  to  be  any  reference  here,  in 
our  Saviour's   words,  to  judicial  oaths. 

The  law,  38,  allows  retaliation,  "  an  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a 
tooth  for  a  tooth."  But  he  who  has  been  wronged  is  not 
hound  thus  to  aven^ie  himself.  The  highest  intention  of  the 
law,  the  principle  of  justice  which  by  the  injured  party  is 
to  be  blended  with  mercy,  finds  its  fulfilment,  not  in  a  literal 
observance  of  the  precept  and  the  revengeful  spirit  thus 
cherished,  but  in  that  state  of  mind  which  would  rather  suf- 
fer evil  than  inflict  violence  in  return,  and  submit  even  to 
an  unreasonable  demand  rather  than  forcibly  to  resist  it. 
While  the  principle  here  involved  is  to  be  of  universal  ap- 
plication, the  specific  directions  were  undoubtedly  intended 
particularly  for  the  disciples.  Nor  even  by  them,  as  Jesus 
showed  in  his  own  conduct,  John  xviii.  23,  when  smitten  on 
the  face,  were  they  to  be  literally  observed. 

The  pure  intention  of  the  law,  43,  which,  in  commanding 
to  love  our  neighbor,  would  seem  also  to  command  us  to 
hate  our  enemies,  is  fulfilled  only  in  such  an  extension  of  the 


92  M.\.TTIi::W    Y,    17-48. 

literal  precept  as  may  embrace  all  mankind,  and  lead  us  to 
love  even  our  enemies,  and  pray  for  those  who  persecute 
and  wrong  us,  that  so  we  may  strive  to  be  perfect  even  as 
our  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect,  who  causeth  his  sun  to  shine 
and  his  rains  to  descend  on  the  evil  and  the  good. 

This  train  of  thought  runs  through  the  whole  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  There  is  no  repeal  of  the  old  law,  but  a  more 
thorough  application  and  universal  extension  of  its  prin- 
ciples. If  it  left  many  of  its  forms  and  specific  rules  behind, 
it  was  only  that  it  might  be  fulfilled,  according  to  its  original 
and  divine  intention,  by  being  taken  up  into  a  higher  realm, 
and,  as  a  spiritual  power  and  influence,  establishing  its  king- 
dom in  the  heart,  and  reaching  the  fountains  of  thought  and 
life.  The  Jewish  altar  and  temple  must  be  overthrown. 
The  smoke  of  the  mornin";  and  evenin<]c  sacrifice  shall  no 
longer  rise  from  Mount  Moriah.  The  Jews  shall  be  dis- 
persed through  all  the  nations,  and  the  Mosaic  observances, 
as  living  institutions,  be  swept  away  from  the  earth.  But 
till  heaven  and  earth  pass  away,  not  one  iota  of  the  law  in 
its  essential  characteristics  shall  pass  away,  till  all  its  pur- 
poses are  fulfilled.  It  came  from  God.  It  is  the  source  of 
all  true  order  and  harmony  in  civil  communities,  and  in  the 
souls  of  men.  It  would  lead  by  its  divine  precepts  and  its 
divine  life  through  all  the  constraints  and  oppositions  and 
changes  of  our  mortal  condition  to  the  attainment  of  peace 
and  harmony  and  spiritual  joy.  This  law  of  God  Jesus 
found  stifled  beneath  endless  traditions  and  restraints,  like 
Lazarus  in  his  tomb.  He  called  it  into  life.  He  loosed  it 
from  its  grave-clothes,  and  sent  it  forth  a  free,  beneficent,  and 
living  spirit,  with  words  of  holy  benediction,  forgiveness, 
life,  and  peace  to  weary,  sorrowing,  and  sinful  hearts,  who 
were  sitting  in  darkness,  and  waiting  for  the  kingdom  of 
God.  And  in  whatever  age  the  Pharisees  among  Christian 
sects  have  sought  by  their  traditionary  doctrines  or  forms 
to  bind  and  bury  it,  and  to  build  up  in  its  place  a  system  of 
ceremonial  observances  and  articles  of  faith  which  lead  to 


MATTIIEAY    V 


93 


superstition  and  liypocrisy,  the  simple  words  and  acts  of 
Jesus,  tlie  Gospels  in  their  simplicity  and  power,  and  es- 
pecially this  great  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  are  always  the 
most  terrible  as  they  are  the  most  elfectual  protest  against 
them. 


NOTE  S. 


And  seeing  the  multitudes,  he  went  up  into  a  mountain ;  and 
when  he  was  set,  his  disciples  came  unto  him.  And  he  opened 
his  mouth,  and  taught  them,  saying :  Blessed  are  the  poor  in 
spirit ,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.     Blessed  are  they 


1.  a  mountain]     This  is   pup- 

i)Osed  to  be  a  mountain  known  us 
veerun  Hattin,  the  Horns  of  Hattin ; 
but  there  is  no  certainty  in  regard 
to  it.  The  phice  most  probably  was 
on  the  west  side  of  the  Lake  of 
Galilee.  2.  In  regard  to 

the  disappointment  caused  to  all 
the  Jewish  prepossessions  and  am- 
bitious hopes  by  these  Beatitudes, 
Dr.  Palfrey  says:  "I  think  we  may 
see  that  Jesus  designed  to  break  the 
force  of  the  blow,  by  hinting  that  the 
view  which  he  was  presenting  was 
not  without  warrant  from  those  same 
Old  Testament  Scriptures  which  it 
seemed  to  oppose.  To  this  end  not 
a  little  of  the  phraseology  employed 
by  him  on  this  occasion  appears  to 
have  been  assumed."  Among  the 
instances  which  he  gives,  compare 
Matt.  v.  3  with  Ps.  li.  17 ;  Isa.  Ixvi.  2, 
V.  4,  with  Ps.  cxxvi.  5;  Isa.  Ixi.  2,  v. 
5,  with  Ps.  xxxvii.  11,  v.  6,  with  Ps. 
xvii.  15,  V.  7,  with  Ps.  xxxvii.  25, 
26,  xli.  1.  3.  Blessed 

are  the  poor  in  spirit]  Not  the 
}>oor  in  this  world's  goods,  though 
the  idea  is  founded  on  a  reference 
to  them,  but  they  who  so  feel  their 
spiritual  wants  as  to  long  for  the 
riches  of  God's  spiritual  kingdom; 
for  theirs,  m  a  peculiar  sense,  is 
the  kingdom  of  God.  It  is  not  im- 
probable, as  has  been  suggested,  that 


"our  Lord  may  have  had  a  refer- 
ence to  the  poor  and  subjugated 
Jewish  people  around  him,  once 
members  of  the  theocracy,  and  now 
expectants  of  the  Jlessiah's  tempo- 
ral kingdom,  and,  from  their  condi- 
tion and  hopes,  taken  occasion  to 
pi-each  to  them  the  deeper  spirirual 
truth."  4.  This  verse 

carries  on  the  same  idea,  and  gives 
its  benediction,  not  only  to  the  jjoor, 
but  to  tlio<e  wlio  have  such  a  con- 
sciousness of  spiritual  loneliness  that 
they  mourn  as  in  a  state  of  bereave- 
ment, "for  they  shall  be  comfort- 
ed." To  them 'the  Comforter  shall 
come.  The  solitude  in  Avhich  they 
mourn  shall  be  filled  by  Him  whose 
absence  they  lament.  And  as  the 
poor  and  sorrowing,  in  opposition 
to  the  proud  and  self-satisfied,  are 
blessed,  so  also,  5,  are  the  meek,  in 
opposition  to  the  wilful  and  violent; 
for  they  (Ps.  xxxvii.  11)  shall  inherit 
the  earth,  or  the  land.  The  expres- 
sion "  to  inherit  the  land"  originally 
applied  to  the  promised  land,  be- 
came at  length  a  common  term  to 
denote  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  Di- 
vine blessing.  As  the  poor  in  spirit 
shall  enjoy  the  kingdom  of  God 
spiritually  present  in  their  souls,  so 
the  meek,  in  the  renunciation  of  wil- 
fulness and  violence,  shall  enjoy  it 
also  in  its  outward  gifts.    Meekness 


94  MATTHEW    V. 

that  mourn ;   for  tlicy  shall  be  comforted.     Blessed  are  the   5 
meek  ;   for  they  shall  inherit  the    earth.      Blessed  are  they  6 
which  do  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness ;  for  they  shall 
be  filled.      Blessed   are   the   merciful ;  for  they  shall  obtain  1 
mercy.     Blessed  arc  the  pure  in  heart ;   for  they  shall   see  3 
God.     Blessed  are  the  peacemakers ;  for  they  shall  be  called  9 
the  children  of  God.     Blessed  are  they  which  are  persecuted  lo 
for  righteousness'  sake ;  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  Heaven. 
Blessed  are  ye,  when  men  shall  revile  you,  and  persecute  you,  ii 
and  shall  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you,  falsely,  for  my 
sake.     Bejoice,  and  be  exceeding  glad ;  for  great  is  your  re-  i-2 
ward  in  heaven ;  for  so  persecuted  they  the  prophets  which 

were  before  you. Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth.     But  if  the  13 

salt  have  lost  his  savor,  wherewith  shall  it  be  salted  ?     It  is 
thenceforth  good  for  nothing,  but  to  be  cast  out,  and  to  be  trod- 
den under  foot  of  men.     Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world.     A  u 
city  that  is  set  on  an  hill  cannot  be  hid ;  neither  do  men  light  i5 
a  candle,  and  put  it  under  a  bushel,  but  on  a  candlestick ;  and 
it  giveth  light  unto  all  that  are  in  the  house.     Let  your  light  16 
so  shine  before  men,  that  they  may  see  your  good  works,  and 
glorify  your  Father  Avhich  is  in  heaven. Think  not  that  I  n 


is  a  quality  of  mind  which  disarms  not  only  good  for  nothing,  but  it 
opposition,  admits  uS  to  the  conti-  actually  desti'oys  all  fertility  Avhere- 
dence  and  affections  of  others,  and  ever  it  is  thrown.  "It  is  cast  out" 
thus,  enabling  us  to  enjoy  whatever  and  "tt'odden  mider  foot;  "  so  troii- 
is  most  to  be  desired  in  the  inter-  blesome  is  this  cornipted  salt,  that 
course  of  life,  leads  us  truly  to  in-  it  is  carefully  swept  up,  carried 
herit  the  land.  The  expression  forth,  and  thi-own  into  the  street, 
reaches  on  also  to  the  period  when  There  is  no  place  about  the  house, 
the  violent  shall  be  put  down,  and  yard,  or  garden  where  it  can  be 
the  meek  prevail  and  triumph.  tolerated."  And  so,  our  Saviour 
11.  for  my  sake]  "  "Where  says,  it  is  with  those  who,  being 
selfishness  prevails,  there  cannot  be  teachers  and  preachers  of  righteous- 
such  suffering  as  bestows  happiness,  ness,  lose  their  zeal  and  fall  away 
But  where  suffering  is  incurred  for  from  the  faith.  16.  So]  As 
the  faith's  sake,  and  is  borne  in  faith,  the  city  on  a  hill,  as  the  candle  on 
it  perfects  the  inward  life,  and  a  candlestick,  so,  i.  e.  in  like  man- 
awakens  the  desire  for  eternity."  ner,  let  vour  light  shine.  17. 
Olshausen.  13.  if  the  to  fulfil]  One  of  the  Fathers  corn- 
salt]  If  yoii,  the  very  salt  of  the  pares  the  law  to  a  sA-e/c7(,  which 
earth,  shoiikl  lose  voui*  virtue,  how  the  painter  does  not  destroy,  but 
can  the  deficiency  be  made  up?  fills  out.  It  means  to  complete  or 
"  It  is  a  Avell-kno'wn  fact  that  the  cm-ry  out.  So,  xxiii.  32,  "  Fill  ye 
salt  of  this  country  [Palestine],  u])  [fulfil]  then  the  measure  of  your 
Avhen  m  contact  Avitli  tlie  ground,  fathers,"  i.  e.  complete  the  work 
or  exposed  to  rain  and  sun,  does  which  they  have  begun.  So  here, 
become  insipid  and  useless.    It  is  to  fulfil  the  law  and  the  prophets  is 


MATTHEW    V. 


95 


am  come  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets ;  I  am  not  come  to 

18  destroy,  but  to  fulfil.  For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  till  heaven 
and  earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from 

19  the  law,  till  all  be  fulfilled.  Whosoever  therefore  shall  break 
one  of  these  least  commandments,  and  shall  teach  men  so,  he 
shall  be  called  the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  ;  but  whoso- 
ever shall  do  and  teach  them,  the  same  shall  be  called  great  in 

20  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.  For  I  say  unto  you,  that,  except  your 
righteousness  shall  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven. 

21  Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said  by  them  of  old  time,  "  Thou 
shalt  not  kill ;  and  whosoever  shall  kill  shall  be  in  danger  of 

22  the  judgment."  But  1  say  unto  you,  that  whosoever  is  angry 
with  his  brother,  without  a  cause,  shall  be  in  danger  of  the 


to  complete  their  Avork,  —  to  carrv 
out  and  finish  their  design,  —  tliough 
snch  a  fnlfilment  or  completion 
should  be  accomplished  by  leaving 
their  temporary  provisions  behind, 
and  absorbing  their  essential  life 
and  truth  into  the  higher  dispensa- 
tion for  which  they  were  intended 
to  prepare  the  way,  and  by  which 
they  are  apparently  superseded. 
20. '  Scribes]  "  Persons  devoted  to 
the  work  of  reading  and  expound- 
ing the  law,  Avhose  office  seems  first 
to  have  become  frequent  after  the 
return  from  Babylon.  They  gener- 
ally appear  in  the  New  Testament 
m  connection  with  the  Pharisees; 
but  it  appears  from  Acts  xxiii.  9 
that  there  were  Scribes  attached 
to  the  other  sects  also.  In  ^latt. 
xxi.  15  tliey  appear  with  the  chief 
priests;  but  it  is  in  the  temple 
where  they  acted  as  a  sort  of  police. 
Their  authority,  as  ex- 
pounders of  the  law,  is  recognized 
by  our  Lord  himself,  Matt.  xxii.  1, 
2';  their  adherence  to  the  oi'al  tradi- 
tionary exposition  proved,  Matt.  xv. 
1;  the  respect  in  which  they  were 
held  by  the  people  shown,  Luke  xx. 
46  ;  their  existence  indicated,  not 
only  in  Jenisalem,  but  also  in  Gali- 
lee, Luke  V.  17;  and  in  Rome,  Jose- 
phus.  Ant.  XVIII.  3.  5."  Alford. 
22.  Avithout  a  cause]  is  omitted 
by  Tischendorf,  and  is  undoubtedly 


an  interpolation.  There  are  three 
degrees  of  guilt  here  indicated:  1. 
anger  against  a  brother  ;  2.  anger 
venting  itself  in  a  term  of  contempt, 
Raca,  thou  vain,  emptij  one  ;  3.  anger, 
using  a  still  more  bitter  term  of  re- 
proach, /w<wpe,  either  a  Greek  word 
signifying  ''  thou  fool,"  or  a  Hebrew 
word  signifying  "rebel,"  and  the 
very  word  for  uttering  which  Moses 
and  Aaron  were  debarred  from  en- 
tering the  land  of  promise;  Hear 
now,  ye  rebels,  Num.  xx.  10.  The 
punishment  due  to  each  of  these 
three  degrees  of  guilt  is  graduated, 
—  1.  l)y  "  the  judgmcnV  or  local  and 
inferior  court;  2.  by  " //;e  council,"'' 
or  Sanhedrim,  the  highest  legal 
Jewish  tribunal;  and  3.  and  severest 
of  all,  by  "  the  Gehenna  of  fire.'''' 
"  the  end  of  the  malefactor,  whose 
corpse,  thrown  into  the  valley  of 
Hinnom,  was  devoured  by  the 
worn!,  or  the  flame."  Gehenna, 
the  valley  of  Hinnom,  or  Tophet, 
ninning  down  from  the  west  on  the 
southern  border  of  Jernsalem  to 
the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat.  It  has 
been  supposed  that  the  allusion 
here  is  to  the  offal  from  the  city, 
which  was  thrown  out  into  this 
valley  to  be  consumed  by  fire.  But 
Dr.  Robinson  says  that  there  is  no 
evidence  of  sucli  fires  having  been 
kept  up  in  the  valley.  "  Here,"  he 
savs,  "  the  ancient  Israelites  estab- 


96  MATTHEW   V. 

judgment ;  and  whosoever  shall  say  to  his  brother,  Raca,  shall 
be  in  danger  of  the  council ;  but  whosoever  shall  say,  Tliou 
fool,  shall  be  in  danger  of  hell  fire.     Therefore  if  thou  bring  23 
thy  gift  to  the  altar,  and  there  rcmemberest  that  thy  brother 
hath  aught  against  thee  ;  leave  there  thy  gift  before  the  altar,  24 
and  go  thy  way ;  first  be  reconciled  to  thy  brother,  and  then 
,come  and  offer  thy  gift.     Agree  with  thine  adversary  quickly,  25 
whiles  thou  art  in  the  way  with  him ;  lest  at  any  time  the  ad- 
versary deliver  thee  to  the  judge,  and  the  judge  deliver  thee 
to  the  officer,  and  thou  be  cast  into  prison.     Verily  I  say  unto  26 
thee,  thou  shalt  by  no  means  come  out  thence,  till  thou  hast 
paid  the  uttermost  farthing.     Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said  27 
by  them  of  old   time,    "  Thou   shalt   not   commit   adultery." 
But  I  say  unto  you,  that  whosoever  looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust  28 
after  her  hath  committed  adultery  with  her  already  in  his  heart. 
And  if  thy  right  eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out,  and  cast  it  from  29 
thee ;   for  it  is  profitable  for  thee  that  one  of  thy  members 
should  perish,  and  not  that  thy  whole  body  should  be  cast  into 
hell.     And  if  thy  right  hand  offend  thee,  cut  it  off,  and  cast  it  30 
from  thee ;  for  it  is  profitable  for  thee  that  one  of  thy  members 
should  perish,  and  not  that  thy  whole  body  should  be  cast  into 
hell.     It  hath  been  said,  "Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  31 
let  him  give  her  a  writing  of  divorcement."     But  I  say  unto  32 
you,  that  whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  saving  for  the 
cause  of  fornication,  causeth  her  to  commit  adultery;  and  who- 


lished  the  idolatrous  worship  of  'Mo-  before  the  case  is  brought  before  a 

loch,  to  whom  they  burned  infants  public  tribunal.     This  is  the  literal 

in  sacrifice.    2  Kings  xxiii.  10;  Jer.  sense:  it  involves  another  and  high- 

vii.  31.     It  was  apparently  in  allu-  er  meaning;  the  way  of  all  the  earth, 

sion  to  this  detested  and  abominable  through   which  we  are  journeying 

fire  that  the  later  Jcavs  employed  to   the  judgments  of  eternity, 'and 

the  name  of  tliis  valley  (Gehenna)  the  word  "o?ac%  "  alluding'to  the 

to  denote  the  place  of  future  punish-  swiftness  of  the   passage,  and   the 

ment,  or  the  fires  of  Tartarus."  shortness  of  life.                  29,  30.  If 

23.  "It  is  not  what  complaints  wc     thy  right  eye, if  thy 

have  against  others  that  we  are  to  right  hand,  oflfend  thee]  i.  c. 
consider  at  such  a  time,  but  what  tempt  thee  to  sin.  "\Vc  are  to  de- 
they  have  against  us  ;  not  what  stroy  the  first  buddings  of  evil  de- 
ground  ice  hare  r/lven  for  complaint,  sire,  though  it  should  be  by  tlie  sacri- 
but  what  complaints  they,  as  matter  fice  of  what  is  most  dear  and  useful 
of  fact,  mak-e  against  us."  Alford.  to  us.  There  must  be  no  dallying 
25.  thine  adversary]  or  parleying  with  the  temptations  of 
he  to  whom  thou  ha<t  given  oft'ence.  passion.  Whatever  the  sacrifice,  we 
Whiles  thou  ait  in  the  must  turn  away  at  the  very  begin- 
way  with  him]    tothejudge,  i.  e.  ning.    He  who  hesitates  is  lost. 


MATTHEW    V. 


97 


soever  shall  marry  her  that  is  divorced  committeth  adultery. 

33  Again,  yc  have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said  by  them  of  old 
time,  "  Thou  shalt  not  forswear  thyself,  but  shalt  perform  unto 

34  the  Lord  thine  oaths."     But  I  say  unto  you,  Swear  not  all ; 

35  neither  by  heaven,  for  it  is  God's  throne  ;  nor  by  the  earth,  for 
it  is  his  footstool ;  neither  by  Jerusalem,  for  it  is  the  city  of  the 

36  great  Iving ;  neither  shalt  thou  swear  by  thy  head,  because 


37  thou  canst  not  make  one  hair  white  or  black, 
communication  be.  Yea,  yea ;   Nay,  nay ;   for 


But  let  your 
whatsoever  is 


32.  causeth  her  to  commit 
adultery]  How  so  ?  By  putting 
her  away  for  any  other  cause  than 
the  one  herein  specified,  the  man 
declares  the  whole  previo^^s  mar- 
riage to  have  been  unlawful",  impure, 
and  adulteroiis,  and  thus  makes  her 
guilty  of  adultery.  Any  other  rea- 
son for  divorce  than  the  one  speci- 
fied, which  is  in  itself  a  dissolution 
of  marriage,  would  invalidate  the 
whole  previous  maiTiage,  and  prove 
the  parties  living  under  its  sanction 
to  have  been  in  that  very  act  guilty 
of  adultery.  We  do  not  find  the 
difficulty  by  which  most  commen- 
tators, from  St.  Augustine  down- 
wards, ai-e  embarrassed  in  their  in- 
terpretation of  this  passage.  The 
man  who  unjnstly  repudiates  his 
wife,  does  not  oblige  her  to  many 
again,  and  therefore  does  not,  in 
that  way,  cause  her  to  commit 
adultery.  And  yet  this  is  what  is 
usually  regarded  as  the  tiiie  inter- 
pietation.  And  Avhosoever 

shall  marry  her  that  is  di- 
vorced, committeth  adultery.] 
The  only  person  wlio,  according  to 
our  Saviour,  is  properly  and  really 
divorced,  is  she  who  has  been  guil- 
ty of  fornication,  and  he  who  mar- 
ries her  thereby  incurs  the  guilt  of 
adultery.  The  intention  of  this, 
and  of  the  other  passage  in  which 
Jesiis  speaks  of  divorce  (see  xix.  8, 
9),  is  to  render  the  marriage  relation 
as  indissoluble  as  possible,  —  1.  by 
forbidding  divorce  except  for  a  single 
cause;  and,  2.  by  forbidding  the 
woman  who  is  thus  put  aAvay,  and 
tbe  man  who  puts  away  his  Avife 
for  any  other  cause  than  that,  to 
marry  again.     But  how  is  it  with 

9 


one  who,  through  the  criminal  con- 
duct of  the  other  party,  is  divorced  ? 
There  is  no  authority  given  for  such 
an  one  to  marry  again,  though  it 
is  not  specifically  forbidden.  The 
Eoman  Chiirch  forbids  such  mar- 
riages ;  the  Greek  and  Protestant 
churches  allow  them.  The  spirit, 
if  not  the  letter,  of  our  Saviour's 
instructions  would  seem  to  dis- 
countenance them.  33, 35. 
"  J\Ien  had  learned  to  think  that,  if 
only  God's  name  were  avoided, 
thei*e  was  no  irreverence  in  the  fre- 
quent oaths,  by  heaven,  by  the  earth, 
by  Jerusalem,  by  their  own  heads, 
and  these  bi'ought  in  on  the  slight- 
est need,  or  on  no  need  at  all;  just 
as  now-a-days  the  same  lingering 
half-respect  for  the  Holy  Name  will 
often  cause  men,  Avho  would  not  be 
wholly  profane,  to  substitute  for 
that  name  sounds  that  nearly  re- 
semble, but  are  not  exactly  it,  or 
the  name,  it  may  be,  of  some  hea- 
then deity."  Trench.  This  whole 
matter  of  blasphemously  trifling 
and  evasive  oaths  is  again  power- 
fully brought  forward  in  Ch.  xxiii. 
16-22;  and  that  passage  may  be 
taken  as  the  best  commentary  on 
this  :  "  Ye  say,  whosoever  shall 
swear  by  the  temple,  it  is  nothing;" 
but,  in  fact,  "  whoso  shall  swear  by 
the  temple,  sweareth  by  it,  and  by 
Him  that  dwelleth  therein.  And 
he  that  shall  swear  by  heaven, 
sweareth  bv  the  throne  of  God,  and 
by  Him  that  sitteth  thereon."  36. 
Thou  must  not,  then,  swear  even  by 
thine  own  head;  for  it  is  not  thine 
own  :  thou  canst  not  change  one 
hair  white  or  black.  It,  also,  is  the 
"  creature  of  God,  whose  destinies 


98 


MATTHEW   V. 


more  than  these  comcth  of  evil.  Yc  have  heard  that  it  hath  3» 
been  said,  "  An  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth."  But  I  33 
say  unto  you,  that  ye  resist  not  evil ;  but  whosoever  shall  smite 
thee  on  thy  right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also ;  and  if  any  40 
man  will  sue  thee  at  the  law,  and  take  away  thy  coat,  let  him 
have  thy  cloak  also ;  and  whosoever  shall  compel  thee  to  go  a  4i 
mile,  go  with  him  twain.     Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee  ;  and  42 


and  changes  are  in  God's  hand;  so 
that  every  oath  is  an  appeal  to 
God."  37.  cometh  of 

evil]  Among  true  men  more  is 
not  needed,  and  whatever  more 
than  a  simple  affirmation  is  re- 
quired by  men  is  because  of  the 
wickedness  among  them.  Among 
you,  in  your  dealings  with  one  an- 
other, this  necessity  ought  not  to 
exist.  38.  an  eye  for  an 

eye]  This  mle,  Ex.  xxi.  24,  as  St. 
Augustine  has  said,  was  not  in- 
tended as  an  incitement,  but  as  a 
limit  to  private  revenge;  not  as  a 
command  stimulating  men  to  do  so 
much,  but  as  a  command  forbid- 
ding them  to  exact  more.  The 
command,  however,  in  its  original 
connection,  is  to  the  wrong-doer, 
"Then  thou  slialt  give  life  for  life; 
eye  for  eye."  39.  That 

ye  resist  not  evil]  rco  trovrjpa, 
the  evil  or  wicked  man,  who  is 
doing  you  a  wrong.  It  is  better  to 
submit  to  a  wrong-doer  than  to  re- 
tort by  violence.  The  literal  turn- 
ing of  the  left  cheek,  of  coui'se,  is 
not  intended.  When  Jesus,  .Tohn 
xviii.  22,  23,  was  thus  smitten,  he 
made  no  violent  resistance,  but, 
without  turning  the  other  ^cheek, 
mildly  remonstrated  against  the 
wrong.  His  example  is  the  best 
possible  commentary  on  his  Avords. 
40.  sue  thee  at  the 
law]  From  personal  violence, 
Jesus  comes  to  a  case  of  legal  op- 
pression, and  applies  the  same 
principle  there.  Rather  than  re- 
sist the  legal  decision,  which  com- 
mands him  to  give  up  his  coat^  an 
inner  and  less  costly  garment,  as  a 
pledge  for  what  he  is  charged  with 
owing,  the  Christian  is  even  to  give 
up  his  cloak,  the  outer  and  more 
valuable  garment,  which,  according 


to  the  laAv,  Ex.  xxii.  26,  could  not 
legally  be  kept  over  night,  because 
it  was  used  as  a  coverlet  by  the 
poor  at  night.  41.  who- 

soever shall  comijel]  "  This 
language  is  taken  from  a  Persian 
custom.  A  courier  travelling  on 
the  king's  business  could  law- 
fully impress  into  his  service  men, 
horses,  ships,  boats,  or  any  vehicle, 
to  accelerate  his  journey.  The 
same  custom  prevailed  under  the 
Roman  governors  or  Tetrarchs." 
Livermore.  The  Jews  complained 
of  this  practice,  on  the  part  of  the 
Romans,  as  a  heavy  gi-ievance.  Jos. 
Ant.,  XIII.  2.  3.  "  We  learn,  from 
coins  and  inscriptions,  that  the  cou- 
riers in  the  service  of  the  Roman 
government  had  the  privilege  of 
travelling  through  the  provinces 
free  of  expense,  and  of  calling  on 
the  villagers  to  forward  their  car- 
riages and  baggage  to  the  next 
town.  Under  a  despotic  govern- 
ment this  became  a  cniel  grievance. 
Eveiy  Roman  of  high  rank  claimed 
the  same  privilege; "the  horses  were 
unyoked  from  the  plough  to  be  har- 
nessed to  the  rich  man's  can-iage. 
It  was  the  most  galling  injixstice 
Avhich  the  provinces  suffered.  We 
have  an  inscription  on  the  frontier 
town  of  Egypt  and  Nubia,  mention- 
ing its  petition  for  a  redress  of  this 
gi'lcvance  ;  and  a  coin  of  Nerva's 
reign  records  its  abolition  in  Italy. 
Our  Lord  could  give  no  stronger 
exhortation  to  patTent  humility 
than  by  advising  his  Syrian  hear- 
ers, instead  of  resenting  the  demand 
for  one  stage's  '  vehiculation,'  to  go 
willingly  a  second  time."  Eclectic 
Review.  42.  Give  to  him 

that  asketh]  The  same  spirit  of 
kindness  and  submission,  wliich  is 
to  be  exercised  toward  the  enemv 


MATTHEW    V. 


99 


43  from  him  that  would  borrow  of  thee  turn  not  thou  away.  Ye 
have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neigh- 

44  bor,  and  hate  thine  enemy."  But  I  say  unto  you,  love  your 
enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to  them  that  hate 
you,  and  pray  for  them  which  despitefully  use  you  and  perse- 

45  cute  you ;  that  ye  may  be  the  children  of  your  Father  which  is 
in  heaven ;  for  he  maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the 

46  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust.  For  if 
ye  love  them  which  love  you,  what  reward  have  ye  ?  do  not 

47  even  the  publicans  the  same  ?  And  if  ye  salute  your  brethren 
only,  what  do  ye  more  than  others  ?  do  not  even  the  publicans 


who  subjects  us  to  personal  vio- 
lence, and  toward  an  unjust  antago- 
nist in  the  law,  is  to  be  extended  to 
our  neighbor  in  the  less  imperious 
and  pressing  claims  that  are  made 
upon  us.  The  command,  which  is 
not  to  be  understood  literallv,  but 
like  those  before  it,  as  a  ifebrew 
form  of  comparison,  is  this :  Rather 
err  on  the  side  of  charity  than  on 
the  side  of  prudence.  This  method 
of  inteq:)retation  is  entirely  in  ac- 
cordance with  what  is  customary  in 
Oriental,  and  indeed  in  our  own 
forms  of  speech.  When  a  father 
says  to  a  credulous  child,  "  JNIy 
son,  believe  nothing  that  you  hear 
reported,"  his  meaning  is  plain 
enough.  He  would  guard  his  child 
against  the  exti-eme  to  which  he 
sees  him  exposed,  by  expressing 
very  strongly  his  preference  for 
the  opposite  extreme,  where  the 
danger  to  him  is  so  much  less.  The 
commands  here  are  of  this  sort. 
Jesus  does  not  command  us  to  ex- 
ercise no  discretion  in  complying 
with  the  requests  of  others.  But 
in  opposition  to  one  extreme,  he 
sets  before  us  the  other  as  that 
towards  which  we  ought  rather  to 
incline.  It  would  be  a  perversion 
of  his  meaning  to  give  to  every  one 
whatever  he  might  ask,  —  a  sword 
to  the  madman,  money  to  the  in- 
temperate or  the  impostor.  "  Ours 
should  be  a  higher  and  deeper 
charity,  flowing  from  those  inner 
springs  of  love  which  are  the 
sources  of  outward  actions,  some- 


times widely  divergent,  whence 
may  arise  both  the  timely  conces- 
sion and  the  timely  refusal." 
45.  for  he  maketh  his  sun]  A 
similar  expression  is  quoted  from 
Seneca  by  Meyer:  "If  you  imitate 
the  gods,  give  benefits  even  to  the 
ungrateful  ;  for  the  sun  rises  even 
for  the  wicked,  and  seas  are  open  to 
pirates."  46.  the  publicans] 

Tax-gatherers.  This  race  of  men, 
so  freqxiently  mentioned  as  the  ob- 
jects of  hatred  and  contempt  among 
the  Jews,  and  coupled  with  sinners, 
were  not  properly  the  publicans^ 
who  were  wealthy  Romans,  of  the 
rank  of  knights,  forming  the  reve- 
nues of  the  provinces;  but  their  un- 
derlings, heathens  or  renegade  Jews, 
Avho  usually  exacted  with  reckless- 
ness and  cruelty."  Alford, 
47.  publicans]  Gentiles.  Tischen- 
dorf.  48.  Be  ye  there- 

fore] •'  Wherefore  ye  shall  be  per- 
fect." The  future  for  the  impera- 
tive, as  in  the  Ten  Commandments. 
"  In  Greek  authors,"  says  Winer, 
xliii.  5.  c,  "  this  mode  of  expres. 
sion  is  considered  softer  than  the 
imperative."  perfect]    Not 

partial  and  one-sided  in  your  aims, 
but  whole,  entire,  complete.  Be  not 
one-sided,  like  the  publicans,  who 
love  only  those  that  love  them ;  nor 
like  the  Gentiles,  who  salute  only 
those  who  salute  them;  but  be  ye 
perfect,  even  as  your  Father  in 
heaven  is  perfect.  Let  no  aim  le^s 
comprehensive  than  this  satisfy 
you.     As  to  the  technical  doctrine 


]L00  MATTHEW   V. 

<50  ?     Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your  Father  which  is  in  48 
jheaven  is  peifect. 


about  perfection  in  this  life,  it  can  does,  that  likeness  to  God  in  inward 
be  lield  only  bv  those  whose  stand-  purity,  love,  and  holiness  must  be 
nrd  of  perfection  is  very  low  and  the  continual  aim  and  end  of  the 
hicomplete.  There  is  no  passage  in  Christian  in  all  the  departments  of 
tlie  Bible  more  opposed  to  such  a  his  moral  life."  This  may  be  con- 
doctrine  than  this,  in  the  compre-  sidered  as  the  sublime  conclusion 
hensive  aim  which  it  sets  before  of  the  second  part  of  the  Sermon, 
us,  to  keep  us  always  active  and  the  first  part  ending  with  the  six- 
always    humble,  "  asserting   as    it  teenth  verse. 


MATTHEW    VI.  101 


CHAPTER    YI. 
General  Design. 

In  the  preceding  chapter,  Jesus  has  spoken  of  the  higher 
fulfilment  of  the  law  of  "  righteousness  "  which  he  demanded 
in  the  relation  of  man  to  man  through  obedience  to  its 
principles,  especially  in  those  points  where  it  had  been 
impeded  in  its  operation  and  curtailed  in  its  require- 
ments by  the  low  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual  con- 
dition of  the  people.  He  now  shows  how  this  same  "  right- 
eousness," vi.  1,  (for  "righteousness,"  not  "alms,"  is  the 
word  in  the  best  editions  of  the  New  Testament,)  is  to  be 
fulfilled  in  the  duties  which  were  regarded  as  more  imme- 
diately connecting  man  with  God. 

Here,  as  in  the  previous  chapter,  v.  17-20,  he  first, 
1,  states  the  general  principle,  and  then,  as  he  had  done 
before,  goes  on  to  illustrate  it  by  examples,  which,  in  lan- 
guage that  a  child  may  understand,  exhaust  this  whole 
branch  of  the  subject.  In  your  alms,  which  were  justly 
regarded  as  religious  duties,  ("  He  that  hath  pity  for  the 
poor,  lendeth  unto  the  Lord,"  Pro  v.  xix.  17;  "They 
cannot  recompense  thee,  but  thou  shalt  be  recompensed 
at  the  resurrection  of  the  just,"  Luke  xiv.  14,)  in  your 
prayers  and  fastings,  Jesus  says,  in  substance,  you  must 
take  heed,  lest,  looking  to  the  praise  of  man  for  your  re- 
ward, you  shall  fail  of  being  approved  by  God.  Alms- 
giving, prayer,  and  fasting  should  be  dear  to  you,  not 
as  securing  the  favor  of  man,  but  as  solemn  privileges 
to  be  used  and  duties  to  be  performed  in  the  sight  of 
God,  and  from  motives  which  He  who  is  unseen,  6,  "in 
secret,"  will  approve  and  reward. 
9* 


102  MATTHEW    VI.    7-15. 


7-15.  —  Lord's  Prayer. 

Under  the  head  of  prayer  without  ostentation  or  vain 
and  foohsh  repetition,  Jesus  gave  his  disciples  an  example 
of  the  sort  of  prayer  which  he  would  have  them  use.  Not 
tliat  exactly  these  words  were  always  to  be  employed 
by  them.  The  same  prayer,  as  preserved  by  St.  Luke, 
is  not  in  precisely  the  same  words  as  here,  and  in  the  re- 
corded devotions  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles  there  is  no 
evidence  that  this  or  any  other  liturgical  form  made  a 
part  of  the  service.  Yet  it  was  undoubtedly  intended  by 
him  to  serve  through  all  ages  as  a  guide  and  help  to 
his  followers  in  their  devotions.  For  in  it  he  has  con- 
densed into  a  few  simple  words  all  that  we  should  most 
earnestly  ask  of  God  in  prayer. 

*'  Whatever  from  the  beginning,"  says  Stier,  "  since  men 
first,  on  account  of  sin  and  evil,  lifted  their  hearts  and  hands 
to  heaven,  has  been  in  their  minds  to  ask,  is  here  reduced, 
in  the  simplicity  of  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant,  the 
last  utterance  of  God  to  us  in  his  Son,  to  one  word,  which 
will  remain  man's  last  utterance  also  to  God,  until  heaven 
and  earth  are  divided  no  more.  All  the  cries  which  go 
up  from  man's  breast  upon  earth  to  heaven,  meet  here 
in  their  fundamental  notes ;  and  are  gathered  into  words 
which  are  as  simple  and  plain  for  babes  as  they  are 
deep  and  inscrutable  for  the  wise,  as  transparent  for  the 
weakest  understanding  of  any  truly  praying  spirit  as  they 
are  full  of  mysterious  meaning  for  the  mightiest  and  last 
struggles  of  the  spirit  into  the  kingdom  and  glory  of 
God." 

We  may  pray  in  secret ;  but  it  is  no  solitary  or  unsocial 
act  in  which  we  are  engaged.  By  the  word  "  Our"  Ave 
are  bound  to  one  another  more  closely  as  we  kneel  to 
offer  up  our  supplications  not  for  ourselves  alone,  but  for 
all  with  whom  we  are  connected  as  children  of  a  com- 
mon   Father.    "  We    do   not,"    says   Cyprian,  in   his   com- 


,105 


MATTHEW    VI.    7-15.  lOo' 

mentary  or  homily  on  the  Lord's  Prayer,  "  pray  each 
one  for  himself  alone ;  for  we  do  not  say,  '  Mij  Father  who 
art  in  heaven,'  or,  '  Give  me  this  day  my  daily  bread,'  &c. 
He  who  is  the  God  of  peace,  and  the  author  of  unity  and 
concord,  would  have  us  pray  each  one  for  all."  Prayer 
thus  becomes  a  bond  of  union,  not  only  with  God,  but  with 
one  another  among  all  his  people.  Our  affections  are  drawn 
out  more  earnestly  towards  our  brethren,  and  we  feel  that 
we  are  all  one  community  of  souls,  bound  together  by 
common  sympathies  and  wants  as  we  lift  up  our  hearts 
in  prayer  to  Him,  whom  we  thus  address  as  the  common 
Father  of  us  all. 

While  the  expression  "  Our  Father^''  gives  warmth  and 
strength  to  this  feeling  of  fellowship  and  brotherhood  to- 
wards man,  it  unites  us  to  God  in  the  closest  and  most 
endearing  relation.  Bringing  him  down  to  us  as  our 
Father,  and  binding  us  to  him  by  all  the  tender  and 
powerful  associations  connected  with  that  name,  it  adds 
the  expression,  '■'•who  art  in  heaven^^  to  lift  us  up  into 
that  purer  realm  with  all  the  fond  hopes  and  affections 
that  cling  trustingly  and  lovingly  to  him. 

Being  thus  lifted  up  with  Him  into  his  heavenly  king- 
dom, as  children  with  their  Father,  we  ask  that  his  name, 
here  put  for  Himself,  the  infinite  source  of  all  holiness, 
may  be  hallowed,  —  held  sacred  and  holy  by  all  his  chil- 
dren, —  that  through  his  holiness  perpetually  renewing  itself 
in  our  hearts  by  the  progress  of  the  divine  life  in  the  soul 
and  throughout  the  world  his  name  may  be  honored  and 
revered  as  holy. 

But  it  is  not  so  now.  Here  is  a  world  of  sin  and  dis- 
order, where  injustice  and  cruelty  and  evil  passions  so 
Avidely  prevail,  and  human  governments  and  laws  have 
not  the  power,  and  oftentimes  have  not  the  disposition, 
to  restrain  them  and  root  them  out.  We  ask  therefore 
that  God's  kingdom  may  come,  that  in  its  outward,  visible 
authority,   with   all   its   spiritual   agencies   and    powers,   it 


104  MATTHEW    VI.    7-15. 

may  come  down  from  heaven  and  be  established  on  the 
earth;  that  everywhere,  in  each  soul  and  throughout  all 
the  world,  its  supreme  authority  may  be  recognized  and 
its  commands  obeyed,  and  men  give  to  it  the  allegiance 
which  is  due  from  loyal  and  obedient  subjects  to  the  di- 
vine kingdom  which  is  placed  over  them. 

But  the  kingdom  of  God  —  this  reign  of  laws  and  gov- 
ernment —  does  not  sufficiently  endear  itself  to  us.  It  does 
not  satisfy  the  heart.  Even  in  the  exercise  of  God's  au- 
thority and  the  advancement  of  his  kingdom,  we  long  for 
a  more  intimate  personal  relation  than  any  which  can  ex- 
ist between  the  laws  or  the  ruling  institutions  of  an  em- 
pire and  its  subjects.  By  the  petition,  "  Thy  will  he  done 
in  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven,''  God  is  brought  into  this  per- 
sonal relation  with  us.  He  is  not  an  Almighty  monarch, 
however  righteous,  enforcing  laws  however  just,  without  any 
regard  to  the  individual  wants  and  personal  feelings  of 
his  subjects.  His  personal  will,  as  that  of  a  Father,  is 
brought  into  a  thoughtful,  comjmssionate,  all-subduing  con- 
nection with  the  souls  of  his  children.  Not  merely  do 
we  say,  "Thy  purposes  be  accomplished  in  those  great 
events,  which,  ordered  by  thine  infinite  wisdom,  reach 
through  kingdoms,  w^orlds,  or  ages  for  their  fulfilment,  and 
before  wdiich  w^e  would  bow  down  in  awe  and  submission ; " 
but,  "  May  thy  will,  in  all  the  minute  and  aflfecting  inci- 
dents of  life,  enter  into  our  hearts,  control  every  thought 
and  emotion  there,  and  bring  us  into  a  cheerful,  loving, 
childlike  obedience  to  thee.  May  thy  will,  visiting  us 
as  a  personal  presence,  and  commending  itself  to  all  oui* 
dearest  hopes  and  affections,  be  done  among  us  on  earth 
as  it  is  among  the  angels  of  heaven,  those  prompt  and 
willing  messengers  of  his  goodness,  who  delight  to  "do 
his  commandments,  hearkening  unto  the  voice  of  his  word." 
"  Here,"  says  Claudius,  "  I  picture  to  myself  heaven  and 
the  holy  angels  who  do  his  will  Avith  joy,  and  no  sorrow 
touches   them,  and   they   know   not   what   to  do   for   love 


MATTHEW    VI.    7-15.  105 

and  blessedness;  and  then  I  think,  if  it  were  only  so 
here  on  earth!" 

It  is  a  great  thing  to  pray  that  God's  will  may  be 
done.  This  prayer  was  uttered  by  our  Saviour  in  agony 
of  soul,  and  we  know  not  how  deeply  God  in  his  answer  to 
it  may  strike  into  the  very  heart  of  what  is  dearest  to  us. 
The  petition  certainly  means  that  we  should  give  up  every 
unjust  or  unholy  object  of  ambition  or  gain  that  we  pos- 
sess or  desire  to  possess,  and  that  we  should  strive  to 
remove  every  little  resentment  and  unworthy  feeling,  every 
darling  habit  and  propensity  which  may  in  any  way  inter- 
fere with  our  moral  and  religious  well-being.  It  may  be 
also  that  in  praying  that  his  will  may  be  done,  we  are 
asking  him  to  take  from  us  some  of  our  dearest  earthly 
friends  or  possessions ;  since  the  loss  of  these  may  be 
needed,  in  order  that  his  will  may  be  done  in  our  hearts 
as  it  is  among  his  angels  in  heaven.  If  we  think  of 
these  things,  and  condense  them  all  into  this  petition  with 
perfect  submissiveness  of  soul,  not  only  as  we  kneel  by 
a  dying  friend  or  child,  but  in  our  usual  morning  and 
evening  prayers  when  all  things  are  fair  and  bright  around 
us,  there  will  be  no  lack  of  feeling  in  our  devotions,  and 
our  prayers  will  have  a  holy  and  uplifting  influence  on 
our  lives. 

"  But  he  who  knoweth  our  frame,  and  remembereth  that 
we  are  dust,"  will  condescend  to  our  lowest  wants.  From 
these  lofty  subjects  of  contemplation  and  of  prayer,  the  name, 
the  kingdom,  and  the  will  of  God,  our  Saviour  lets  us  come 
down  to  a  sense  of  our  human  wants,  and  teaches  us  to  pray 
for  "  our  daily  bread."  Thus,  our  daily  food,  asked  and 
received  from  God,  may  become  a  daily  motive  for  inter- 
course with  Him,  and  a  daily  source  of  thankfulness  and  de- 
votion. The  more  we  learn  to  connect  the  thought  of  God 
with  even  the  smallest  of  his  gifts,  the  more  constantly  will 
the  sense  of  his  goodness  and  our  obligation  to  him  be  kept 
alive  in  our  hearts.     But  while  we  ask  for  our  bodily  food, 


106  LTTIIEW    VI.    7-15. 

our  daily  bread,  in  which  words  are  included  all  our  earthly 
wants,  these  same  words  may  remind  us  of  the  bread  from 
heaven,  the  spiritual  food,  which  we  also  need  and  ask  to 
have  supplied  to  us  day  by  day. 

Not  only  are  we  dependent  creatures,  resting  on  God's 
daily  bounty  for  our  support,  but  as  erring,  sinful  beings  we 
tunn  to  him  in  penitence,  and  ask  to  be  forgiven,  even  as  we 
forgive  those  who  have  sinned  against  us.  There  has 
always  been  danger  lest  religion  should  be  separated  from 
morality,  and  men's  prayers  to  God  stand  apart  from  their 
sympathies  with  one  another.  But  the  most  difficult  and 
most  affecting  duty  to  others  is  woven  into  our  daily  prayer, 
and  made  the  only  condition  on  which  we  are  permitted  so 
much  as  to  ask  that  God  will  forgive  us  our  sins.  And  to 
bind  this  condition  still  more  forcibly  upon  us,  the  Saviour 
adds  as  a  comment  to  the  prayer :  "  For  if  ye  forgive  men 
their  trespasses,  your  Heavenly  Father  will  also  forgive  you; 
but  if  ye  forgive  not  men  their  trespasses,  neither  will  your 
Father  forgive  your  trespasses."  We  have  no  right  to  ask 
God's  forgiveness,  except  so  far  as  we  are  ready  to  forgive 
those  who  have  injured  us. 

Not  only  have  we  sinned  in  times  past,  but  as  we  call  to 
mind  our  transgressions,  we  feel  anew  and  more  keenly  the 
sense  of  our  own  liability  to  sin ;  and  we  pray  therefore  with 
renewed  earnestness  that  our  Father,  in  his  great  mercy,  will 
so  order  events  as  not  to  lead  us  into  temptation.  Full  of 
contrition  for  our  former  offences,  with  a  sense  of  weakness 
aggravated  by  our  consciousness  of  guilt,  we  turn,  as  help- 
less, erring  children  to  their  father,  with  the  further,  heart- 
felt petition,  "  And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver 
us  from  evil."  From  evil,  first  and  most  of  all,/rom  sm, 
with  the  mournful  train  of  griefs  and  pains  which  follow 
after  it  as  its  natural  attendants.  But  in  this  petition  we 
pray  also  to  be  delivered  from  every  form  of  evil.  "  Here," 
says  the  author  who  has  just  been  quoted  from  Dr.  Hedge's 
Prose- Writers  of  Germany,  "I  still  think  of  temptations,  and 


MATTHEW    VI.    16-34.  107 

that  man  is  so  easily  seduced  and  may  stray  from  the 
strait  path.  But  at  the  same  time  I  think  of  all  the  trou- 
bles of  life,  of  consumption  and  old  age,  of  the  pains  of  child- 
birth, of  gangrene  and  insanity,  and  the  thousand-fold  misery 
and  heart-sorrow  that  is  in  the  world,  and  that  plagues  and 
tortures  poor  mortals,  and  there  is  none  to  help.  And  you 
will  find,  if  tears  have  not  come  before,  they  will  be  sure  to 
come  here."  And  from  this  vast  accumulation  and  variety 
of  evils  we  pray  God  to  deliver  us,  and  rest  in  the  certain 
assurance  and  conviction  that  he  will  hear  and  answer  our 
prayer. 

Every  element  of  devotion  is  here  ;  —  praise,  confession, 
supplication,  ascription,  even  without  the  last  clause.  There 
is  no  want  of  our  spiritual  or  mortal  nature  which  is  not 
recognized  and  provided  for.  "The  true  Christian,"  says 
Luther,  "  prays  an  everlasting  Lord's  Prayer."  What  else 
indeed  can  he  pray,  either  in  act  or  word  or  thought  ?  To 
pray  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  not  merely  uttering  the  words. 
It  is  lifting  the  soul  up,  that  it  may  be  touched  with  love 
and  reverence  by  the  hallowed  name  of  our  Father  who  is 
in  heaven.  It  is  striving  to  bring  heart  and  life  into  accord- 
ance with  all  that  is  divine,  so  as  to  realize  the  true  union 
between  human  effort  and  the  Divine  will.  To  pray  the 
Lord's  Prayer  in  spirit  and  in  truth  is  to  live  it  all  out  as  in 
God's  presence  and  with  his  aid.  This  co-working  of  man 
with  God,  this  union  of  earnest  effort  and  earnest  prayer,  is 
the  life  of  all  that  is  best  within  us. 


16-34.  —  Perfect  Trust  in  God. 

Having  thus  lifted  up  the  souls  of  his  hearers  into  com- 
munion with  God,  Jesus  carries  them  along  on  this  high 
plane  of  thought,  and  continues  to  show  how  the  "right- 
eousness "  of  the  first  ver.-e  is  still  to  be  fulfilled  by  motives 
which  look  to  God,  and  not  to  man.  In  their  fasting,  which 
he  does  not  enjoin  as   a  duty,  he  directs  them  so  to  de- 


108  MATTHEW    VI.    lG-34. 

mean  themselves  as  not  to  attract  the  notice  of  men,  but 
appear  to  tlieu-  Father  in  heaven  as  fasting,  —  hungering 
and  thirsting  (v.  6)  for  his  righteousness.  But  the  love 
of  praise  is  not  the  only  influence  that  may  come  in  to 
destroy  our  singleness  of  purpose,  and  weigh  down  our 
heavenly  affections  by  its  sordid  and  unworthy  motives. 
The  love  of  earthly  gain  must  be  overcome  by  the  love 
that  follows  the  richer  treasures  which  we  lay  up  for  our- 
selves in  heaven.  For  where  the  treasure  is  there  the 
heart  also  will  be;  and  if  the  mind  is  once  corrupted  by 
these  inferior  passions,  it  is  as  if  the  eye  of  the  soul  were 
diseased  and  clouded,  so  that  the  truth  of  God  is  shut 
out  or  perverted,  and  the  very  light  that  is  in  us  turned 
into  darkness.  And  if  the  light  within  thee  be  dark- 
ness, how  great,  the  Saviour  exclaims,  "  will  the  darkness 
be ! "  We  can  then,  he  adds,  24,  safely  owe  no  double 
allegiance  to  God  and  the  world.  If  one  master  is  loved 
and  obeyed,  the  other  will  be  hated,  or  at  least  neglected 
and  despised. 

But  Jesus  goes  deeper  than  this  into  the  secret  motives 
of  the  heart.  The  same  spirit  which  leads  to  avarice  in 
the  accumulation  of  Avealth,  may,  by  undue  anxiety  about 
the  provisions  necessary  for  our  daily  wants,  interfere 
with  the  purity  of  our  religious  motives,  and  the  sim- 
plicity of  love  and  faith  with  which  we  are  to  look  to 
God  for  our  support,  and  to  receive  our  food  and  raiment 
day  by  day  as  from  his  hands.  Nothing  can  exceed  the 
poetic  beauty  of  this  passage  (25  -  34),  the  logical  force  of 
its  reasoning,  or  the  calm  and  sublime  convictions  of  re- 
ligious trust  in  which  it  rests.  Are  not  the  life,  —  the 
soul,  —  and  the  body,  which  God  has  freely  created  and 
bestowed,  more  than  food  or  raiment  ?  As  he  has  pro- 
vided these  greater  gifts,  can  ye  not  trust  him  in  those 
which  are  the  least  ?  "  Look  at  the  birds  of  heaven ; " 
[which  may  have  been  flying  near  them ;]  "  for  they  sow 
not,  neither  do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into  barns ;  and  yet 


MATTHEW    VI.    16-34.  109 

jour  Heavenly  Father  feedeth  them."  Observe  the  ex- 
quisite tenderness  in  the  mode  of  expression ;  —  not  their 
God  or  their  Father,  but  your  Heavenly  Father.  ''  And 
are  not  you  far  more  to  him  than  they  ?  "  AYhile  the  reason- 
ing proves  the  assertion  to  the  understanding  with  logical 
power,  these  words  bring  it  home  with  endearing  empliasis 
to  the  heart.  There  is  then  no  cause  for  anxiety;  but  if 
there  M^ere,  of  what  use  could  it  be  ?  With  all  his  anxiety, 
who  among  you  could  add  one  cubit  to  his  life?  ''And 
as  to  raiment,  why  should  you  be  anxious  ?  "  They  were 
in  the  open  field,  and  the  flowers  probably  were  near  them. 
"  Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  are  growing : 
they  toil  not,  they  spin  not;  but  I  say  unto  you,  that  not 
Solomon  in  all  his  glory  Avas  arrayed  like  one  of  these." 
And  if  God  so  clothe  these  perishing  things,  —  the  grass 
of  the  field  which  flourishes  to-day  only  that  it  may  be 
consumed  to-morrow,  —  will  he  not  much  more  clothe  you, 
O  ye  distrustful  ones?  Do  not  put  yourselves  on  a  level 
with  the  unbelieving  Gentiles,  who  are  anxious  about  these 
things.  And  then  he  adds,  in  words  which  bring  the  pater- 
nal providence  of  God  tenderly  and  warmly  home  to  them, 
even  in  the  smallest  matters,  "  Your  Heavenly  Father  know- 
eth  that  you  have  need  of  all  these  things.  But  seek  ye 
first  his  righteousness  and  his  kingdom,  and  all  these 
things  will  be  given  to  you  in  addition."  "  Wherefore," 
—  for  all  these  reasons,  especially  as  they  are  summed  up 
in  the  last  sentence,  —  "  be  not  anxious  about  the  morrow ; 
for,"  —  in  addition  to  the  reasons  already  given  —  "  the 
morrow,  like  to-day,  will  have,  and  Avill  make  provision 
for  its  own  trials."  Live  faithfully  amid  the  duties  of 
to-day,  with  a  perfect  trust  in  your  Heavenly  Father  for 
all  that  hes  beyond  ;  for  by  so  doing  you  will  best  pre- 
pare yourselves  for  the  duties  and  the  trials  of  to-morrow. 
The  evils  of  to-morrow  will  be  provided  for,  and  will  be 
enough  in  themselves  when  to-morrow  comes,  without  being 
forestalled  now,  and  adding  their  weight  to  the  already 
10 


110  MATTHEW    VI.    16-34. 

sufficient  burdens  of  to-day.  The  meaning  of  the  passage, 
which  closes  the  third  division  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
is,  That  we  are  to  live  as  God's  children  in  the  present, 
giving  ourselves  up  entirely  to  the  duties  which  he  as- 
signs to  us,  with  that  perfect  trust  in  him  which  leaves 
no  room  for  anxiety  in  regard  to  the  perishing  things 
of  time  which  we  may  need  in  the  future. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  new  life  and  meaning 
which  these  words  about  the  birds  and  flowers  throw  into 
nature,  whose  creatures,  perpetually  fed  and  clothed  by 
God,  are  objects  of  his  care  and  proofs  of  his  active,  all- 
pervading  presence,  as  they  are  the  symbols  of  his  good- 
ness. The  doctrine  implies  all  that  is  valuable  in  panthe- 
ism, the  all-pervading,  efficient  presence  of  God,  while 
over  the  universe  thus  pervaded  and  sustained  it  throws 
the  kind,  intelligent  providence  of  a  personal  God,  and 
the  thoughtful,  benignant  love  of  our  Heavenly  Father. 

While  our  Saviour  would  here  withdraw  us  entirely 
from  earthly  anxiety,  creating  in  the  soul  a  love  and 
faith  which  cast  out  fear  and  distrust,  there  is  nothing 
of  Asceticism  or  Stoicism  in  his  instructions.  He  rec- 
ognizes the  evils  of  life.  He  does  not  ignore  or  despise 
its  good  things.  Our  Heavenly  Father  knows  that  we  have 
need  of  them.  And  because  he  knows  our  need  of  them, 
and  will  provide  for  it,  we  are  to  place  them  where  they 
belong,  as  wholly  subordinate  to  the  heavenly  treasures, 
and,  without  anxiety  or  care  for  them,  seek  first  his  right- 
eousness and  his  kingdom. 


MATTHEW    VI. 


Ill 


NOTES. 


Take  heed  that  ye  do  not  your  ahns  before  men,  to  be  seen 
of  them ;  otherwise  ye  have  no  reward  of  your  Father  which 

2  is  in  heaven.  Therefore  when  thou  doest  thine  alms,  do  not 
sound  a  trumpet  before  thee,  as  the  hypocrites  do  in  the  syna- 
gogues and  in  the  streets,  that  they  may  have  glory  of  men. 

3  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  they  have  their  reward.  But  when 
thou  doest  ahns,  let  not  thy  left  hand  know  what  thy  riglit 

4  hand  doeth  ;  that  thine  alms  may  be  in  secret ;  and  thy  Father, 
which  seeth  in  secret,  himself  shall  reward  thee  openly. 

5  And  when  thou  prayest,  thou  shalt  not  be  as  the  hypocrites 
are ;  for  they  love  to  pray  standing  in  the  synagogues  and  in 
the  corners  of  the  streets,  that  they  may  be  seen  of  men. 

6  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  they  have  their  reward.  But  thou, 
when  thou  prayest,  enter  into  thy  closet,  and  when  thou  hast 

1.  Your  alms]  Your  righteous- 
ness, biKaioavvr]v,  not  e^erjfj.oa-vi/rjv, 
is  undoubtedly  the  true  reading; 
and  it  is  to  be  taken  here  in  the 
same  sense  as  in  v.  20,  wliere  it  is 
used  by  Jesus  to  show  the  sort  of 
fulfihiient  of  the  law  which  he  came 
to  enforce.  2.   do   not 

sound  a  trumpet]  There  is  no 
good  reason  to'  suppose  that  this 
custom  literally  prevailed,  though 
one  of  the  Fathers  mentions  it  as  a 
tradition  in  his  day,  "  that  the  hyp- 
ocrites call  the  beggars  together  by 
the  sound  of  the  trumpet."  But 
Lightfoot,  in  his  comment  on  this 
passage,  says :  "  I  have  not  found, 
although  I  have  sought  for  it  much 
and  seriously,  even  the  least  mention 
of  a  trumpet  in  almsgiving." 
they  have  their  reward]  Have 
reward  enough,  —  what  they  sought 
and  bargained  for,  namely,  the  praise 
of  man,  and  also,  what  they  did  not 
seelc  or  bargain  for,  the  disappro- 
bation of  God.  3.  let  not 
thy  left  hand]  Do  it  without  any 
regard  to  what  otliers  may  say  or 
think,  in  such  pei-fect  simplicity  of 
heart,  that  not  even  the  left  hand 
may  know  of  the  charity  which  the 
right  hand  is  bestowing.  Perhaps  the 
fact  that  tlie  alms-box  in  Jewish 


synagogues  stood  on  the  right  hand 
of  the  passage  into  the  house  added 
to  the  force  of  the  expi*ession. 
4.  iir secret]    Unseen.  open- 

ly] This  word  is  omitted  in  the 
best  editions  of  the  Greek  text,  both 
here  and  in  vv.  6  and  18. 
6.  enter  into  thy  closet]  This 
is  not  necessarily  to  be  taken  liter- 
ally. We  may, 'as  St.  Chrysostom 
has  said,  shut  our  closet  doors,  and 
yet  leave  the  doors  of  the  mind  open 
to  thoughts  inconsistent  Avith  our 
devotions.  The  ostentation  of  the 
thing  is  what  is  condemned.  He 
who  anywhere,  though  it  be  in  a 
public  p'lace,  retires  within  the  clos- 
et of  liis  own  mind,  and  there  prays 
to  God  in  the  secrecy  and  simplicity 
of  his  soul,  obeys  this  injunction  of 
our  Lord;  while  it  is  violated  by 
him  who  willingly  allows  it  to  be 
understood  that  he  often  shuts  him- 
self up  in  his  closet  for  secret  prayer. 
The  secret  prayer  that  is  talked 
about  to  others  is  no  longer  secret. 
In  this  particular  the  race  of  Phari- 
sees is  not  yet  extinct.  There  is 
a  time  and  a  place  for  our  public 
devotions.  But  above  all,  in  tlie 
secrecy  of  our  own  souls,  by  acts 
too  sacred  for  man  to  see  or  to  hear 
about,  we  are  to  keep  up  the  habit, 


112 


MATTHEW    VI. 


shut  thy  door,  pray  to  th}'  Father  which  is  in  secret ;  and  thy 
Father,  which  seeth  in  secret,  shall  reward  thee  openly.     But   7 
when  ye  pray,  use  not  vain  repetitions,  as  the  heathen  do ;  for 
they  think  that  they  shall  be  heard  for  their  much  speaking. 
Be  not  ye  therefore  like  unto  them ;  for  )our  Father  knoweth   9 
what  things  ye  have  need  of,  before  ye  ask  him.     After  this   9 
manner  therefore  pray  ye :  Our  Father,  which  art  in  heaven, 
hallowed  be  thy  name ;  thy  kingdom  come ;  thy  will  be  done,  10 


not  merely  of  daily,  but  of  constant 
communion  with  Cxod,  and  tlms  keep 
alive  the  spirit  of  devotion  within 
us.  While  Jesus  here  enjoins  secret 
prayer,  he  does  not  foi'bid  social  or 
pul)Iic  prayer,  in  which  he  is  known 
to  have  engaged  more  than  once. 
Matt.  xi.  25,  26;  John  xi.  41,  xvii. 
1-26.  7.  vain  repeti- 
tions] Do  not  babble,  or  make  un- 
meaning repetitions  in  your  prayers. 
"  What  is  forbidden  in  this  verse," 
says  Alford,  "  is,  not  viuch  praying, 
for  our  Lord  himself  passed  whole 
nights  in  prayer;  nor  praying  in  the 
same  words,  for  this  he  did  in  the 
very  intensity  of  his  agony  at  Geth- 
semane;.  but  the  making  number 
and  length  a  point  of  obsenance^  and 
imagining  that  prayer  will  be  heard, 
not  because  it  is  the  genuine  expres- 
sion of  the  desire  of  faith,  but  be- 
cause it  is  of  such  a  length,  has  been 
such  a  number  of  times  repeated. 
'Ihe  repetitions  of  Pater  Xosters  and 
Ave  ]\hirias  in  the  Romish  Church, 
as  practised  by  them,  are  in  direct 
violation  of  this  pi'ecept." 
9.  After  this  manner]  "  We  may 
place  our  little  children's  hands  to- 
gether, and  teach  them,  say  ye. 
Well  for  every  one  for  whom  this  is 
early  done;  it  is  not  too  soon  as 
early  as  the  child  can  cry.  My 
father  and  my  mother,  and  lift  up 
his  eyes  to  heaven  as  a  child  of 
humanity.  How  perfect  is  the 
simplicity  of  this  beginning  of  all 
prayer,  descending  to  the  root  and 
principle,  already  naturally  present 
in  the  heart,  of  all  sense  of  love  and 
trust  for  gift  and  help Fur- 
ther, what  an  inexhaustible  mean- 
ing is  there  in  the  conjunction,  in 
this  first  glance  towards  heaven,  of 
the   Father-name  which  is  inborn 


and  sweet  to  everj'-  child  of  man, 
with  the  universal  compass  of  all 
things  and  the  hosts  of  the  universe. 
He  whose  are  all  the  heavens,  and 
not  thy  OAvn  earth  merely,  is  the 
Father^  is  thy  Father."  Stier.  "  In 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  which  is  prayer 
in  its  most  perfect  form,  we  are 
taught  to  acknowledge  the  Lord  as 
the  sole  object  of  our  worship;  to 
revere  his  name  or  attributes;  to 
desire  at  heart  the  restoration  of  his 
kingdom  within  us,  and  throughout 
the  world;  to  resign  our  wills  to  his 
will  in  all  his  dispensations  and  in 
every  act  of  his  providence,  till  earth 
shall  become  as  heaven  within  us; 
till  the  external  form  of  our  actions 
be  one  with  the  internal  spirit  wiiich 
lilies  them,  and  the  whole  earth  may 
be  brought  to  the  worship  of  the 
Lord  in  ^he  harmony  and  peace  of 
heaven."  Arbouin. 
9.  thy  name]  "  De  Wette  ob- 
serves: 'God's  name  is  not  merelv 
his  appellation,  which  we  speak  with 
the  mouth,  but  also  and  principally 
the  idea  which  we  attach  to  it,  his 
Being,  as  f:ir  as  it  is  confessed,  re- 
vealed, or  known.'  '  The  name  '  of 
God  in  Scripture  is  used  to  signify 
that  revelation  of  himself  which  he 
has  made  to  men,  which  is  all  that 
we  know  of  him ;  into  the  depths  of 
his  being,  as  it  is,  no  man  can  pene- 
trate." Alford.  10.  as 
it  is  in  heaven]  "As  in  the 
courses  of  sun  and  stars,  so  among 
the  morning  stars  and  sons  of  God, 
Job  xxxviii.  7,  there  is  the  festal 
service  of  those  who,  active  in  rest, 
shout  for  joy  in  their  ranks  of  bless- 
edness. So  should  it  be  upon  earth: 
vast  is  the  meaning  which  carries 
the  promise  in  this  prayer  far  above 
all  the  stir  and  tumult  of  humanity, 


MATTHEW   VI. 


113 


11  in  eartli  as  it  is  in  heaven ;  give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread ; 

12  and  forgive  us  our  debts  as  we  forgive  our  debtors ;  and  lead 

13  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil ;  for  thine  is 
the  kingdom,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory,  forever.     Amen. 

14  For  if  ye  forgive  men  their  trespasses,  your  Heavenly  Father 

15  will  also  forgive  you  ;  but  if  ye  forgive  not  men  their  tres- 
passes, neither  will  your  Father  forgive  your  trespasses. 

16  Moreover,  when  ye  fast,  be  not,  as  the  hypocrites,  of  a  sad 
countenance  ;  for  they  disfigure  their  faces,  that  they  may  ap- 
pear unto  men  to  fast.     Yerily  I  say  unto  you,  they  have  their 

17  reward.     But  thou,  when  thou  fastest,  anoint  thine  head,  and 


inviting  and  urging  all  the  children 
of  God  to  restless  wrestling  in  pray- 
ing and  receiving,  and  fervor  in  do- 
ing his  will."  Stier. 
11.  our  daily  bread]  iivLov(nov. 
A  great  deal  of  learning  has  been 
expended  on  this  word,  but  with  no 
more  satisfactory  result  than  that 
in  our  English  version.  Its  root 
may  be  two  words,  which  mean  on- 
coming, referring  to  the  day  now 
coming  on,  and  well  enough  trans- 
lated by  our  '  daily.''  But  the  most 
satisfactoiy  analysis  of  the  word  is 
that  adopted  by  most  of  the  Greek 
Fathers,  6  eVl  ovo-ia  r]fj.a>v,  what  is 
needed  for  our  subsistence.  By  the 
-word  bread  is  meant  everything  that 
is  required  for  oiu'  support,  —  all  tiae 
needful  things  of  time.  This  un- 
doubtedly is  the  primary  meaning 
of  the  petition;  but  it  may  also  ex- 
tend itself  so  as  to  include  the  higlier 
nutriment,  —  those  things  which  are 
requisite  and  necessary  as  well  for 
the  soul  as  the  body. 
13.  and  lead  us  not  into  temp- 
tation] There  is  a  sense,  and  that 
a  profound  one,  in  which  all  actions 
and  events  proceed  from  God.  With 
tliis  comprehensive  view  of  the  Di- 
vine agency  reaching  through  all 
things,  these  words  mean,  '  so  order 
all  events  connected  with  us,  and 
so  assist  us  in  the  government  of 
our  own  thoughts,  that  we  may  not 
be  led  into  temptation.'  The  two 
clauses  of  the  petition  must  be  ta- 
ken together  :  '  lead  us  not  into 
temptation,  but  [on  the  contrary] 
deliver   us    from  evil.'      The  first 

10* 


clause,  growing  out  of  our  con- 
sciousness of  weakness  and  expos- 
iire,  gives  foi-ce  to  the  second. 
Feeling  keenly  our  liability  to  evil, 
we  ask  with  more  intense  earnest- 
ness that  God  will  deliver  us.  It  is 
said,  James  i.  13,  '  God  cannot  be 
tempted  Avith  evil,  neither  tempteth 
he  any  man.'  But  this  which  im- 
plies direct  personal  solicitation  to 
sin,  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  foct 
that,  in  the  vast  and  manifold  order- 
ings  of  God's  providence,  he  should 
sometimes  give  rise  to  contingencies 
Avhich  lead  men  into  temptation,  so 
that,  with  philosophical  strictness  of 
speech,  he  may  be  said  to  lead  men 
into  temptation.  But  that  is  an  in- 
cidental result,  gi'owing  out  of  com- 
plicated causes  intended  for  other 
purposes,  and  therefore  allowed  by 
God;  but  not  designed  by  him  for 
the  purpose  of  tempting  us.  The 
substance  of  the  whole  matter  is 
stated  by  St.  Paul,  1  Cor.  x.  13; 
'  but  God  is  faithful,  who  will  not 
suffer  you  to  be  tempted  above  that 
ye  are  able;  but  uill  with  the  tempta- 
tion also  make  a  way  to  escape  that  ye 
may  be  able  to  bear  it. 
For  thine  is  the  kingdom,  and 
the  poAver,  and  the  §:lory,  for- 
ever. Amen.]  There  is  no  trace 
of  this  ascription  in  early  times, 
in  any  family  of  manuscripts,  or 
in  any  exposition.  It  is  excellent 
in  itself;  but  we  have  no  reason  to 
supposij  that  it  originally  formed  any 
part  of  the  Lord's  Prayer. 
17.  anoint  thine  head]  i.  e.  do 
as  you  are  in  the  habit  of  doing; 
let    there    be   nothing   unusual   in 


114 


MATTHEW    VI. 


wash  thy  face ;  that  thou  appear  not  unto  men  to  fast,  but  unto  is 
thy  Father  wliich  is  in  secret ;  and  thy  Father,  which  seeth  in 

secret,  shall  reward  thee  openly. Lay  not  up  for  your-  19 

selves  treasures  upon  earth,  where  moth  and  rust  doth  corrupt, 
and  where  thieves  break  through  and  steal ;  but  lay  up  for  20 
yourselves  treasures  in  heaven,  where  neither  moth  nor  rust 
doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  do  not  break  through  nor 
steal.     For  where  your  treasure  is,  there  will  your  heart  be  21 
also.     The  light  of  the  body  is  the  eye.     If  therefore  thine  2a 
eye  be  single,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light ;  but  if  23 
thine  eye  be  evil,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  darkness.     If 
therefore  the  light  that  is  in  thee  be  darkness,  how  great  is 
that  darkness  !     No  man  can  serve  two  masters ;  for  either  he  24 
will  hate  the  one,  and  love  the  other ;  or  else  he  will  hold  to 


your  appearance  to  attract  atten- 
tion. The  disfiguring  of  the  face, 
in  v.  16,  refers  to  the  habit  of  cover- 
ing the  face  with  ashes,  or  leaving 
it  unwashed  and  neglected  in  times 
of  fasting.  19.  treasures 

upon  earth]  No  small  part  of 
the  "  treasures "  in  the  I^ast  con- 
sisted of  sumptuous  and  magnificent 
garments.  "  I  had,"  says  Bartolo- 
nio,  "  put  my  effects  into  a  chest, 
and  opening  it  afterwards,  I  dis- 
covered an  innumerable  multitude 
of  termites  (or  ants).  They  had 
perforated  my  linen  in  a  thousand 
places,  and  gnawed  my  books,  my 
girdle,  my  amice,  and  my  shoes." 
rust]  /3pa)(7ts', —  a  more 
general  term  than  rust:  anything 
that  corrodes,  that  eats  into  and  con- 
sumes what  is  valuable.  break 
through]  Prof.  Hackett,  speaking 
of  the  unsubstantial  character  of 
many  of  the  houses  in  the  East, 
built  as  they  are  of  small  stones  and 
clay,  says  that  "  the  labor  of  digging 
through  such  walls  cannot  be  dii!i- 
cult.  Those  who  Avished  to  plunder 
a  house  would  be  apt  to  select  a 
place  where  the  partition  was  ap- 
parently thin,  and  then  stealthily 
remove'  the  stones  or  clay,  so  as  to 
open  a  passage.  In  some  parts 
of  our  English  vei'sion  '  breaking 
through  '  should  be  changed  to 
•  digging  through.'  "  Illustrations 
of   Scripture,  p.   95.  22. 


sing:le]  clear,  with  no  foreign  sub- 
stance to  obstruct  the  passage  of  tlie 
light  through  it.  The  eye,  i.  e.  the 
niedium  through  which  the  light 
passes,  is  put  for  the  light  itself,  as 
in  our  common  speech  Ave  use  the 
word  cup  to  express  the  wine  which 
is  contained  in  it.  As  the  pure, 
clear  eye  is  the  medium  through 
which  the  light  finds  its  way  into 
the  body,  and  fills  it  with  light,  so 
the  conscience,  when  it  is  clear  of 
every  foreign  influence,  lets  the 
light  of  God's  truth  into  the  soul. 
But  if,  23,  thine  eye  be  evil,  i.  e. 
the  opposite  of  clear,  no  light  can 
enter,  and  the  whole  body  is  full  of 
darkness.  And  if  the  very  light 
that  is  in  you  be  darkness,  how 
great  must  the  dakkxess  be  ! 
Man's  lower  nature  is  enlightened, 
spiritualized,  and  sanctified  by  the 
spiritual  light  Avhich  comes  into  it 
through  the  eye  of  the  soul ;  but  if 
that  light,  through  the  perversion 
of  the  eye,  be  darkness,  now  great 
must  the  darkness  of  the  sensuous 
life  be.  There  are  none  so  mourn- 
fully dark  as  they  who,  claiming  to 
be  Christians,  thus  distort,  pervert, 
and  turn  into  darkness  the  very 
light  of  God's  truth.  How  many 
professed  teachers  of  righteousness, 
their  intellectual  and  spiritual  per- 
ceptions clouded  by  their  own  pre- 
conceived opinions,Vefuse  to  receive 
the  Gospel  in    its    simplicity,  and 


MATTHEW    VI. 


115 


the  one,  and  despise  the  other.      Ye  cannot  serve  God  and 

25  INlammon.  Therefore  I  say  unto  you,  Take  no  thought  for 
your  life,  what  ye  shall  eat,  or  what  ye  shall  drink ;  nor  yet 
for  your  body,  what  ye  shall  put  on.     Is  not  the  life  more  than 

26  meat,  and  the  body  than  raiment?  Behold  the  fowls  of  the 
air,  for  they  sow  not,  neither  do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into 
barns  ;  yet  your  Heavenly  Father  feedeth  them.     Are  ye  not 

27  much  better  than  they  ?     Which  of  you  by  taking  thought  can 

28  add  one  cubit  unto  his  stature  ?  And  why  take  ye  thought  for 
raiment  ?     Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow ; 


spend  all  their  ingenuity  and 
strength  in  turning  its  light  into 
darkness!  24.  Mammon] 

According  to  Augustine  this  was  a 
Carthaginian  name  for  lucre  or 
gain.  The  researches  of  scholars 
have  thrown  no  further  lifrht  u])on 
it.  25.  Take  no  thought] 

This  word,  fie[)ifivaT€,  from  a  root 
implying  division,  admirably  ex- 
presses the  divided  and  distracted 
state  of  mind  which  is  here  con- 
demned as  directly  opposed  to  the 
entire  consecration  of  the  whole 
man  to  God,  with  perfect  tiiist  in 
him.  The  transition  is  a  natural 
one  from  the  single  eye  of  v.  22,  to 
the  divided  allegiance  of  v.  24,  and 
fx-om  that  to  the  distracted,  anxious 
state  of  mind  which  is  produced 
when  the  simple,  trusting  devotion 
of  the  soul  to  God  is  disturbed  by 
too  fond  a  regard  for  lower  things: 
"This  'take  no  thought'  is  cer- 
tainly an  inadequate  translation,  in 
our  present  English,  of  the  Greek 
original.  The  words  seem  to  ex- 
clude and  to  condemn  that  just  for- 
Avard-looking  care  which  belongs  to 
man,  and  differences  him  from  the 
beasts,  which  live  only  in  the  pres- 
ent; and  most  English  critics  have 
lamented  the  in-advertence  of  our 
authorized  version,  which,  in  bid- 
ding ixs  '  take  no  thought '  for  the 
necessaries  of  life,  prescribes  to  us 
what  is  impracticable  in  itself,  and 
would  be  a  breach  of  Christian 
duty,  even  were  it  possible.  But 
there  is  no  '  inadvertence '  here. 
"When  our  translation  was  made, 
'take  no  thought'  was  a  perfectly 
correct   rendering  of  the  original. 


'  Thought  '  was  then  constantly 
used  as  an  equivalent  to  anxiety 
or  solicitous  care;  as  let  us  Avitness 
this  passage  from  Bacon :  '  Han-is, 
an  alderman  in  London,  was  put  to 
trouble,  and  died  with  ihouylit  and 
anxiety  before  his  business  came  to 
an  end.'  Or,  still  better,  this  from 
cme  of  the  '  Somers  Tracts'  (its 
date  is  that  of  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth):  'In  five  hundred  years, 
only  two  queens  have  died  in  child- 
birth; Queen  Catherine  Parr  died 
rather  of  thoiKjht.'  A  better  exam- 
ple than  either  of  these  is  that  oc- 
curring in  Shakespeare's  '  Julius 
CiBsar,'  ('  take  thviujht  and  die  lor 
Ci3esar ' )  where  '  to  take  thought ' 
is  to  take  a  matter  so  seriously  to 
heart  that  death  ensues."  Treiich. 
for  your  life]  "^vxfj,  a 
word  which  has  no  equivalent  in  our 
language,  and  is  translated  life, 
in  this  place,  ii.  20,  x.  39,  xvi.  25, 
and  XX.  28,  but  is  rendered  soul,  xi. 
29,  xii.  18,  xvi.  26,  xxii.  37,  and 
xxvi.  38.  It  means  the  vital,  sen- 
tient principle  which  constitutes 
our  identity,  and  wdiich  may  be 
thought  of  in  its  relation  to  our 
physical  nature,  as  our  physical, 
mortal  life,  or  in  its  relation  to  our 
spiritual  nature,  as  the  soul.  See  x. 
39,  xvi.  25,  26.  27.  one  cubit 

unto  his  stature]  The  primary 
meaning  of  the  word  here  rendered 
stature  is  age,  which  is  the  more 
forcible  teiTn  of  the  two.  Who,  by 
anxietv,  can  add  a  cubit  to  his  term 
of  life?  28.  the  lilies  of 

the  field]  We  cannot  tell  pre- 
cisely what  flowers  these  were. 
"  But  if,  as  is  probable,  the  name 


116 


MATTHEW    VI. 


they  toil  not,  neither   do  they  spin ;  and  yet  I  say  unto  you  29 
that  even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of 
these.    AVherefore,  if  God  so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  field,  which  so 
to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,  shall  he  not  much 
more  clothe  you,  O  ye  of  little  faith?      Therefore  take  no  3i. 
thought,  saying,  AVhat  shall  we  eat,  or  what  shall  we  drink, 
or  wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed  ?     (For  after  all  these  32 
things  do  the  Gentiles  seek  ;)  for  your  Heavenly  Father  know- 
eth  that  ye  have  need  of  all  these  things.     But  seek  ye  first  33 
the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his   righteousness;    and  all   these 
things  shall  be  added  unto  you.     Take  therefore  no  thought  34 
for  the  morrow  ;   for  the  morrow  shall  take  thought  for  the 
things  of  itself.     Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof. 


may  indude  the  numerous  flowers 
of  the  tulip  or  amarvllis  kind,  which 
appear  in  the  early  summer,  or  the 
autumn  of  Palestine,  the  expression 
becomes  more  natural,  —  the  red 
and  golden  hue  fitly  suggesting 
the  comparison  with  the  proverbial 
gorgeousness  of  the  robes  of  Solo- 
mon." "  Whatever  was  the  special 
flower  designated  by  the  lily  of  the 
field,  the  rest  of  the  passage  indi- 
cates that  it  was  of  the  gorgeous 
hues  which  might  be  compared  to 
tlie  robes  of  the  great  king." 
Stanley.  "  As  the  beauty  of  tiie 
flower"^  is  unfolded  by  the  divine 
Creator-Spirit  from  within,  from 
the  laws  and  capacities  of  its  own 
uidividual  life,  so  must  all  true 
adornment  of  man  be  unfolded 
from  within  by  the  same  Almighty 
Spirit."     Alford.  30.  cast 

into  the  oven]  The  slight  an- 
nual plants,  which  are  called  grass, 
are  still  used  for  fuel  in  the  East. 
The  oven  is  a  sort  of  earthen  pot 
(the  mouth  downward,  and  taper- 
ing towards  the  top)  in  which  a  fire 
is  kindled  that  heats  it  easily,  and 
the  bread,  rolled  out  thin,  is  spread 
over  the  outside  siu'face  and  quickly 
baked.  33    the  kingdom 

of  God,  and  his  righteousness] 
Tischeudorf  has  it:   "  But  seek  ye 


first  his  righteousness  and  his  king- 
dom," which  reading  is  sustained 
by  the  best  manuscripts,  and  indi- 
cates the  true  order  in  which  we 
are  to  seek,  first,  the  righteousness, 
and  then,  through  that,  the  kingdom 
of  God.  "  By  the  kingdom  of  God," 
says  Swedenborg,  "  in  its  universal 
sense,  is  meant  tlie  universal  heav- 
en; in  a  sense  less  universal,  the 
tnie  Church  of  the  Lord ;  and  in  a 
particular  sense,  every  particular 
person  of  a  .true  faith,  or  who  is 
regenerated  by  the  life  of  faith  ; 
wherefore,  such  a  person  is  also 
called  heaven,  because  heaven  is 
in  liim;  and  likewise  the  kingdom 
of  God,  because  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  in  him,  as  the  Lord  him- 
self teacheth  in  Luke  xvii.  20,  21," 
34.  for  the  morrow] 
For  to-morrow  will  have  cares  and 
troubles  enough  of  its  own,  just  as 
to-day  has.  It  has  no  claims  to  ex- 
emption from  evil  more  than  to-day, 
and  therefore  we  are  not  to  increase 
the  burdens  of  to-day  by  uselessly 
forestalling  the  troubles  of  to-mor- 
row. Do  what  we  can,  it  will  have 
trials  enough  of  its  own.  Leave  it, 
therefore,  as  3'ou  do  whatever  else 
is  unavoidable,  submissively  and 
trustingly  m  the  hauds  of  God. 


MATTHEW    VII.  117 


CHAPTER     YII. 

Analysis. 

Most  readers  are  accustomed  to  regard  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  as  made  up  of  disconnected  maxims  and 
precepts.  But  on  a  critical  examination,  nothing  perhaps 
strikes  us  more  than  the  intimate  relation  of  the  parts, 
bound  together  as  they  all  are,  and  making  one  orderly 
and  consistent  whole.  After  the  benedictions  in  the  fifth 
chapter,  Jesus  shows  how  the  law  is  to  be  more  strictly 
observed  by  obedience  to  the  spirit  rather  than  the  letter. 
In  the  sixth  chapter,  he  shows  how  improper  motives 
may  vitiate  our  religious  acts,  darken  the  light  that  is  in 
us,  break  up  our  allegiance  to  God,  and  disturb  our  faith. 
The  seventh  chapter,  after  a  few  specific  rules  particularly 
applicable  to  the  disciples,  but  involving  principles  of  con- 
duct which  can  ne\'er  be  out  of  season,  closes  with  con- 
siderations of  momentous  interest  and  importance  in  their 
application  to  those  who  would  be  his  followers  in  all 
coming  times. 

First,  1-5,  he  warns  those  who  are  going  forth  to  re- 
generate and  reform  the  world,  that  they  must  beware 
of  cherishing  a  censorious  temper  or  habit  of  mind,  and 
especially  be  careful  to  have  their  own  souls  pure  before 
they  should  dare  to  arraign  the  conduct  of  others  or  ex- 
hort them  to  cast  out  their  sins ;  lest  like  hypocrites  they 
should  condemn  in  others  faults  which  they  themselves 
cherish  in  more  aggravated  forms.  Only  purity  in  their 
own  hearts  and  lives  will  enable  them  to  aid  others  in 
putting  away  their  sins.  Still,  6,  they  are  to  exercise 
their   discretion   in  regard  to  others,  and  not  waste  their 


118  MATTHEW   VII. 

time  and  precious  gifts  on  those  who  will  listen  only  to 
what  appeals  to  tlieir  impure,  coarse,  and  sensual  appe- 
tites. Lest,  however,  they  should  be  discouraged  by  such 
persons,  they  are  exhorted,  7-10,  to  look  to  One  who 
will  always  hear,  and  never  refuse  to  assist  them.  Ask, 
seek,  knock,  express  the  different  degrees  of  earnestness 
in  prayer,  which  will  not  be  in  vain.  Therefore,  11  —  12, 
since  God,  even  more  than  an  earthly  father,  will  give 
good  things  to  them  that  ask  him,  they  are  in  some  meas- 
ure to  imitate  his  beneficence,  and  do  to  others  as  they 
would  have  others  do  to  them.  For  here,  in  doing  thus 
to  others  with  a  constant  and  prayerful  reference  to  God, 
is  the  fulfilment  of  all  that  has  been  enjoined  by  the  law, 
or  taught  by  the  prophets.     See  xxii.  40. 

The  question  is  sometimes  asked,  how  far  the  Golden 
Rule  is  original  in  this  place.  Similar  precepts  have  been 
quoted  from  other  writers,  but  no  one  wliich  has  the  same 
fulness  of  meaning  as  this.  In  Tobit  iv.  15,  we  read, 
"  Do  to  no  man  that  which  thou  hatest."  Kuinoel  quotes 
from  the  Talmud  a  similar  precept,  "  Do  not  to  anothei^ 
that  Avhich  is  hateful  to  yourself."  Seneca,  Ep.  94,  says, 
"  Expect  from  another  the  same  that  you  do  to  him." 
Each  of  these,  and  indeed  all  of  them  combined  fail  to 
come  up  to  the  precept  of  Jesus.  At  best,  they  cover 
only  the  negative  and  least  important  side  of  the  great 
rule  of  disinterested  and  active  beneficence  wliich  he  has 
laid  down.  But  independently  of  the  precise  meaning 
of  the  precept  standing  by  itself,  he  has  infused  into  it 
a  religious  power  which  takes  it  up  out  of  the  region 
of  moral  precepts  and  endows  it  Avith  his  own  spiritual 
life.  The  warm  religious  atmosphere  which  is  thrown 
around  his  instructions  gives  them  a  new  vitality.  Take, 
e.  g.  the  first  of  the  beatitudes,  "  Blessed  are  the  poor 
in  spirit ;  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  Heaven."  Here  is 
a  precept  relating  to  a  disposition  or  habit  of  mind,  and, 
as  far  as  the  ethical  rule  is  concerned,  it  might  be  trans- 


MATTHEW   VII.  119 

lated,  Cultivate  a  lowly,  unambitious  spirit.  Who  does 
not  see  that  the  words  of  religious  benediction  and  joy  in 
which  it  is  here  imbedded  lift  it  up  out  of  the  sphere  of 
prudential  or  ethical  rules,  animate  it  with  a  religious 
life,  and  press  it  upon  us  with  the  holy  and  beneficent 
sanctions  of  a  divine  authority  ?  It  is  so  with  all  our 
Saviour's  moral  instructions.  They  are  never  presented 
as  naked  precepts.  The  spiritual  life  which  enters  into 
them,  and  the  religious  sanctions  which  are  thrown  around 
them,  and  which  mould  them  into  conformity  with  the 
will  of  God,  bring  them  to  us,  not  as  formal  rules,  but  as 
spirit  and  life.  They  do  not  stand  outside  as  stern  moni- 
tors to  remind  us  of  our  duties  and  enforce  obedience ; 
they  enter  our  hearts  as  vitalizing  influences.  They  quicken 
our  affections,  subdue  us  to  themselves,  and  lead  to  obe- 
dience as  the  spontaneous  act  of  souls  thus  prepared.  In 
this  way,  the  Golden  Rule,  urged  from  a  religious  motive 
on  hearts  already  touched  by  a  sense  of  God's  infinite 
condescension  and  kindness,  is  filled  out  with  a  divine 
life,  which  gives  it  inspiration  and  power. 

But  it  is  no  easy  work  to  which  the  followers  of  Jesus 
are  called.  They  are  to  strive,  Luke  xiii.  24,  —  dycoviCea-de, 
struggle,  as  in  a  crowd  and  a  contest,  —  on  account  of  the 
multitudes  that  are  pressing  into  the  broad  way  that  leads 
to  destruction,  and  the  narrow,  afflictive  way  that  leads  to 
life.  Especially  they  must  beware  of  the  false  teachers, 
who  would  come  as  prophets  to  deceive  them,  and  who 
could  be  known  only  by  their  works.  Here  he  warns 
his  followers  against  the  danger  of  ostentatious  and  heart- 
less professions. 

"Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me.  Lord,  Lord,  shall 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  the  heavens,  but  he  that  doeth 
the  will  of  my  Father  who  is  in  the  heavens."  In  that 
kingdom,  and  in  the  great  day  of  its  consummation  to  each 
individual  soul,  when  the  secret  thoughts  and  acts  of  men 
are  revealed,  to  the  astonishment  of  themselves  most  of  all, 


120  MATTHEW    VII. 

^hen  shall  they  who  have  lived  in  outward  formalities  and 
professions  cling  still  to  their  old  protestations,  and  endeavor 
by  them  to  shut  out  the  new  and  dreadful  revelations  that 
are  breaking  in  upon  them.  "Then  will  I  confess  unto 
them,  I  never  knew  you;  depart  from  me,  ye  that  work 
unlawfulness  "  duofilav,  i.  e.  '  ye  violators  of  the  law. '  We 
should  note  the  force  of  this  word  which  in  this  connection 
shows  what  he  means  by  the  violation  of  the  law  which  he 
■  came  to  fulfil.  They  who,  instead  of  doing  the  will  of  God, 
i  trust  to  their  professions  of  honor  and  respect  for  him,  are 
Hhe  violators  of  the  law  whom  he  drives  away  from  his 
presence. 

How  grand  and  awful  these  words,  in  which  Jesus  as 
the  representative  of  the  divine  justice  announces  the  rejec- 
tion of  those  who,  honoring  him  with  their  lips,  had  yet 
refused  to  submit  themselves  to  the  will  and  the  law  of  God. 
But  these  words  of  terrible  warning  to  one  class  of 
offenders  are  not  sufficient.  Referring  back  to  his  whole 
discourse,  in  which  all  that  is  significant  and  vital  in  the 
law  has  been  condensed  and  set  forth,  by  images  borrowed 
from  that  land  of  mountain-torrents,  and  sudden,  violent,  and 
destructive  floods,  he  tells  them  that  he  who  hears  and  does 
these  words  of  his,  is  like  a  wise  man  who  built  his  house 
upon  a  rock,  and  rain  and  floods  and  winds  fell  upon  it  in 
vain,  for  it  was  founded  on  a  rock.  But  he  who  hears  and 
does  them  not,  is  like  a  foolish  man  who  built  his  house  on 
the  sand,  and  rain  and  floods  and  winds  beat  violently 
against  it,  and  it  fell  in  a  ruin  great  and  terrible  in  propor- 
tion to  the  expectations  and  hopes  which  he  had  been 
building  on  that  precarious  and  deceitful  foundation. 

Here  is  the  solemn  and  appalling  close  of  the  greatest, 
the  most  comprehensive  and  most  important  discourse  ever 
spoken  to  man.  The  multitudes  were  filled  with  astonish- 
ment at  his  instructions.  The  extraordinary  ascendency  of 
Jesus  over  them  is  shown  by  the  fact,  that,  though  he  had 
so  utterly  disappointed  them  in  all  their  most  deeply  cher- 


MATTHEW    VIT.  121 

ished  expectations,  they  nevertheless  recognized  his  author- 
ity, and  were  astonished  at  the  power  with  which  he  spoke. 

It  has  been  questioned  by  critics  whether  the  words  here 
brought  together  were  actually  spoken  at  one  time.  It  has 
been  suggested  that  Matthew  may  have  put  together  as  one 
discourse  words  spoken  on  different  occasions.  But  those 
who  have  carefully  followed  us  in  our  analysis  will,  we 
think,  come  to  a  different  conclusion.  The  intimate  connec- 
tion of  the  parts;  the  orderly  Avhole  which  they  make; 
the  touching  and  beautiful  introduction ;  the  body  of  the 
sermon  freighted  with  profound  and  various  instructions,  yet 
all  bearing  upon  the  same  subject,  viz.  the  fulfilment  of  the 
law  in  its  highest  and  most  comprehensive  sense;  —  the 
solemn  and  almost  overpowering  close.;*  are  to  us  an  un- 
answerable proof  that  the  whole  was  spoken  on  one  occasion 
and  as  one  discourse,  though  there  may  have  been  a  pause 
here  and  there  to  mark  the  succession  of  topics. 


NOTES. 

2  Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged.     For  with  what  judg- 
ment ye  judge  ye  shall  be  judged  ;  and  with  what  measure  ye 

3  mete  it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again.     And  why  beholdest 
thou,  the  mote  that  is  in  thy  brother's  eye,  but  considerest  not 

1,  2.  A  general  law  of  retribution  tence  of  allegiance  to  the  truth, 
is  here  announced.  As  we  give,  so  "  It  has  been  made  known  to  me," 
shall  we  receive.  "Justice,"  says  says  Swedenborg,  "by  much  ex- 
Tholuck,  "is  elastic;  the  unjust  peVience,  that  persons  of  every  relig- 
blow  I  inflict  upon  another  recoils  ion  are  saved,  if  so  be,  by  a  life  of 
upon  myself."  He  who  is  kind,  charity,  they  have  received  the  re- 
merciful,  and  gentle  to  others,  will  mainsof  good  and  of  apparent  truth, 
disarm  them  of  their  severity,  ana  The  life  of  charity  consists  in  man's 
make  them  kind,  merciful,  and  gen-  thinking  well  of  others,  and  desiring 
tie  to  him.  Especial! v  are  we  to  good  to  others,  and  receiving  joy 
remember  this  in  the  judgments  we  in  himself  at  the  salvation  of  others; 
pass  on  those  who  ditfer  from  us  whereas  they  have  not  the  life  of 
in  their  religious  views,  where  Ave  charity  who  are  not  Avilling  that 
sometimes  indulge  our  personal  or  any  should  be  saved  but  such  as 
sectarian  animosities  under  the  pre-  believe  as  they  themselves  do,  and 
11 


122 


MATTHEW   VII. 


the  beam  that  is  In  thine  own  eye  ?  or  how  wilt  thou  say  to  thy   4 
brother.  Let  me  pull  out  the  mote  out  of  thine  eye ;  and,  be- 
hold, a  beam  Is  In  thine  own  eye  ?     Thou  hypocrite,  first  cast  5 
out  the  beam  out  of  thine  own  eye ;  and  then  shalt  thou  sec 

clearly  to  cast  out  the  mote  out  of  thy  brother's  eye. 

Give  not  that  which  Is  holy  unto  the  dogs,  neither  cast  ye  your  6 


especially  if  they  are  indignant  that 
it  should  be  otherwise."  3,  4. 
Only  the  eye  that  is  single  can  see 
clearly.  The  fiiults  which  offend 
lis  most  in  others  are  often  those 
of  which  we  are  gnilty  ourselves. 
The  proud  man  is  most  annoyed  by 
the  pride  of  others,  and  the  quickest 
to  see  it.  The  offences  which  we  sus- 
pect in  others  are  often  only  faults 
of  character  or  of  temper  projected 
from  our  own  minds,  and  having  no 
substantial  existence  except  in  our- 
selves, the  mote 

the  beam]  From  qiiotations  given 
by  Lightfoot,  this  Avould  appear  to 
have  been  a  proverbial  form  of  ex- 
pression among  the  Jews. 
5.  to  cast  out  the  mote  out  of 
thy  brother's  eye]  Before,  3,  it 
was  only  looking,  or  staring  at  the 
mote  in  the  brother's  eye;  but  now, 
with  clear  sight,  and  a  charitable 
intent,  we  help  him  to  put  it  away. 
The  lesson  taught  in  these  five 
verses  is  a  rebuke  to  the  faidt- 
finding,  satirical  spirit,  in  which 
the  pharisees  and  hypocrites  of  all 
times  delight  to  indulge.  One  of 
the  few  legends  res j)ec ting  Jesus, 
which  are  not  iitterly  woi'thless,  is 
to  the  same  effect,  and,  as  told  by 
Mrs.  Jameson,  is  nearly  as  follows: 
"  Jesus  arrived  one  evening  at  the 
gates  of  a  certain  city,  and  he  sent 
his  disciples  forward  to  prepare 
supper,  while  he  himself,  intent  on 
doing  good,  Avalked  through  the 
streets  into  the  market-place.  And 
he  saw  at  the  corner  of  the  market 
some  people  gathered  together  look- 
ing at  an  object  on  the  ground;  and 
he  drew  near  to  see  what  it  might 
be.  It  was  a  dead  dog  with  a  halter 
round  its  neck,  by  which  it  ap- 
peared to  have  been  dragged  through 
the  dirt;  and  a  viler,  a  more  abject, 
a  more  unclean  thing  never  met  the 
eye  of  man.    And  those  who  stood 


by  looked  on  with  abhorrence,  and 
gave  vent  to  strong  expressions  of 
disgust.  And  Jesus  heard  them, 
and,  looking  down  compassionately 
on  the  dead  creature,  he  said, '  Pearls 
are  not  equal  to  the  whiteness  of  his 
teeth.'  Then  the  people  turned  to- 
wards him  with  amazement,  and 
said  among  themselves,  '  Who  is 
this?  This  must  be  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth, for  only  he  could  find  some- 
thing to  pity  and  approve  even  in  a 
dead  dog  ; '  and,  being  ashamed, 
they  bowed  their  heads  befoi*e  him 
and  went  each  on  his  wav." 
6.  dogs]  Dogs  (Phil.  iil.  2  ;  Eev. 
xxii.  15)  stand  as  a  type  of  the 
shameless,  passionate,  and  profane, 
while  swine  were  abhon-ed  as  im- 
pure, sensual,  and  obscene.  This 
passage.  Dr.  Barnes  says,  "  gives  a 
beautiful  instance  of  the  introverted 
parallelism."  In  Hebrew  poetry, 
one  member  of  a  sentence  generally 
answers  to  another,  expressing  the 
same  thing  with  some  slight  modi- 
fication : 

"  The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  ; 
And  the  iinnament  showeth  his  handy 
work."  —  Ps.  xix.  1. 
'   Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  0  God  ; 
And  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me." 
—  Ps.li  10. 

In  these  examples,  as  is  usually 
the  case,  the  parallelism  is  between 
the  first  clause  and  the  second. 
Sometimes,  where  there  are  four 
clauses,  it  is  between  the  first  and 
third,  and  the  second  and  fourth,  as 
in  the  following: 

"  On  her  house-tops. 
And  to  tlie  open  streets, 
Every  one  howleth, 
Descendeth  with  weeping." 

Isa.  XT.  3. 

Sometimes,  but  rarely,  the  first 
and  fourth,  and  the  second  and 
third  correspond.     In  Matt.  xii.  22, 


MATTHEW    VII. 


123 


pearls  before  swine ;  lest  they  trample  them  under  their  feet, 

7  and  turn  again  and  rend  you. Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given 

you ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find;  knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto 

8  you.     For  every  one  that  asketh  receiveth ;  and  he  that  seek- 

9  eth  findeth ;  and  to  him  that  knocketh  it  shall  be  opened.     Or 
what  man  is  there  of  you,  whom  if  his  son  ask  bread,  will  he 

10  give  him  a  stone  ?  or  if  he  ask  a  fish,  will  he  give  him  a  ser- 

11  pent  ?  If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good  gifts  unto 
your  children,  how  much  more  shall  your  Father  which  is  in 

12  heaven  give  good  things  to  them  that  ask  him  ?  Therefore  all 
things  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  }'ou,  do  ye 
even  so  to  them ;  for  this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets. 

\3  Enter  ye  in  at  the  strait  gate ;  for  wide  is  the  gate,  and  broad 

is  the  way,  that  leadeth  to  destruction  ;  and  many  there  be 

14  which  go  in  thereat.     Because  strait  is  the  gate,  and  narrow  is 


the  forms  of  expression  correspond 
in  tliis  Avay.  He  liealed  him,  inso- 
much that 

"  The  blind 
And  dumb 
Both  spake 
And  saw." 

So  in  the  passage  before  us  : 

"  Give  not  that  which  is  holy  unto  dogs, 
Neither  cast    ye    your    pearls  before 

swine, 
Lest  they  [the  swine]  trample    them 

under  their  feet. 
And  [the  dogs]  turn  again   and  rend 

you." 

T,  8.  Ask,  seek,  knock] 

Usually  supposed  to  refer  to  diller- 
ent  degrees  of  earnestness  in  prayer. 
Tlie  following,  from  Clowes's  notes 
on  this  passage,  may  possibly  sug- 
gest a  better  interpretation  :  "  To 
ask  has  relation  to  the  desire  of 
heavenly  good  in  the  will,  to  seek 
has  relation  to  the  desire  of  heav- 
enly truth  in  the  understanding,  and 
to  knock  has  relation  to  the  joint 
effect  of  such  desire  in  oi)ening  com- 
munication with  the  Lord  and  his 
kingdom.  In  like  manner,  in  the 
succeeding  verse,  8,  to  receive  has 
relation  to  the  appropriation  and 
possession  of  heavenly  good,  to  firul 
has  relation  to  the  appropriation  and 
possession  of  heaveidy  tnith,  and  to 
have  it  opened  has  relation  to  the 
communication  therebyeffectedwith 


the  Lord's  kingdom  and  the  Lord 
himself."  The  limitation  to  tiie 
promise  is  in  James  iv.  3. 
11.  If  ye  then,  being  evil]  "  i.  e, 
in  comparison  with  God."  Alford. 
13.  The  gate  is  put  before 
the  way,  and  refers  to  that  decisive 
exercise  of  will  by  which  we  enter 
on  a  Christian  course,  and  the  nar- 
row way  indicates  the  perseverance 
which  IS  also  needed  in  order  that 
we  may  enter  into  life. 
14.  Because  strait]  Strait  means 
narrow,  and  the  word  translated  nar- 
row has  a  more  intense  signification. 
It  is  from  the  same  root  —  to  squeeze, 
bruise,  crush  —  as  the  word  rendered 
^^  tribulation'^  (Acts  xiv.  22),  "  Wc 
must  through  much  tribulation  en- 
ter into  the  kingdom  of  God,"  and 
Avithout  doubt  has  here  something 
of  the  same  meaning.  It  was  a  way 
so  narrow  as  to  be  afflictive.  There 
is  almost  always  a  contrast  between 
the  narrowness,  the  straits,  the  trib- 
ulation, through  which  tlie  Christian 
must  pass  in  the  eyes  of  the  Avorld, 
and  the  spiritual  freedom  and  joy  in 
which  he  walks.  life]  "^  In 

the  New  Testament  death  is  often 
regai-ded  as  the  offspring  of  sin 
(James  i.  15),  and  life  as  the  effect 
or  consequence  of  holiness.  The 
term  death,  therefore,  often  stands 
for  sin  and  its  son-owful  conse- 
quences, as  life  is  made  to  stand 
for  lioliness  and  its  blissful  results. 


124 


MATTHEW    VII. 


the  way,  which  leadeth  unto  life ;  and  few  there  be  that  find  it. 

^Beware  of  false  prophets,  which  come  to  you  in  sheep's  15 

clothing,  but  inwardly  they  are  ravening  wolves.     Ye  shall  16 
knoAv  them  by  their  fruits.     Do  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns, 
or  figs  of  thistles  ?     Even  so  every  good  tree  bringeth  forth  n 
good  fruit ;  but  a  corrupt  tree  bringeth  forth  evil  fruit.     A  is 
good  tree  cannot  bring  forth  evil  fruit,  neither  can  a  corrupt 
tree  bring  forth  good  fruit.     Every  tree,  that  bringeth  not  forth  19 
good  fruit,  is  hewn  down  and  cast  into  the  fire.     Wherefore  20 
by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.     Not  every  one  that  saith  21 
unto  me.  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven ; 
but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 
Many  Avill  say  to  me  in  that  day.  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not  22 

will  say  to   me   in  that  day] 

Here  is  one  of  those  indefinite  ex- 
pressions, Avhicli,  like  life,  denih, 
kingdom  of  Heaven,  outer  darhiess, 
&c.,  have  a  more  powerful  eflect 
on  the  imagination  and  the  heart 
than  any  precise  terms  could  ever 
have,  even  if  it  -were  possible  to 
apply  them  to  this  class  of  subjects. 
They  draw  us  into  the  realm  of  in- 
finite being.  Its  vast  background 
of  light  or  darkness  is  thrown 
around  them.  They  cannot  be  de- 
fined because  they  are  employed  in 
relation  to  mattei's  Avhich  have  no 
bounds,  and  which  in  our  present 
state  of  existence,  we  can  but  im- 
perfectly comprehend.  In  "  that 
day,"  when  the  Son  of  !Man  shall 
coine  (John  xiv,  20) ;  in  '•  that  day  " 
when  the  crown  of  righteousness 
shall  be  given  to  him  who  has 
fought  a  good  fight  and  finished  his 
course  (2  Tim.  Tv.  8);  in  "the  day 
when  God  shall  judge  the  secrets  of 
men  by  Jesus  Christ  "  (Rom.  ii.  16); 
in  "the  day  of  judgment"  (Matt, 
xi.  24),  Avhen  "  it  "shall  be  more  toler- 
able for  the  land  of  Sodom  than  for 
thee,"  —  in  "  that  day  "  only  those 
who  do  the  Avill  of  God  shall  be  al- 
loAved  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven.  Wien  "  that  day  "  shall  be, 
or  what  precisely  shall  "be  the  sign 
of  its  coming,  is  wisely  hidden  from 
us.  But  it  has  been  fully  revealed 
to  us  by  what  means  we  shall  best 
prepare  to  meet  it.  "  Blessed  is  that 
servant  whom  his  Lord,  when  he 
Cometh,  shall  find  so  doing."     See 


Absolute  life  is  absolute  holiness 
and  blessedness.  This  is  the  com- 
mon, though  not  the  only  use  of  the 
Avord  C^Tji  Avhich  is  here  ti'anslated 
life.  It  refers  to  the  life  of  the  soul, 
a  jn-inciple  of  divine  life  with  its  at- 
tendant blessedness  and  peace,  and 
hardly  more  thi\n  two  or  three  times, 
as  Luke  xvi.  25  and  James  \v.  14, 
to  the  life  of  the  body.  See  Trench's 
Synonymes  of  the  New  Testament. 

16.  by  their  fruits]  Sol- 
emnly repeated  at  v.  20.  "  The  fruit 
is  that  which  a  man,  like  a  tree,  piits 
forth,  from  the  good  or  evil  dispo- 
sition which  pervades  the  whole  of 
his  inward  being.  Learning,  com- 
piled from  every  quarter,  and  com- 
bined with  language,  does  not  con- 
stitute fruit;  which  consists  of  all 
that  Avhich  the  teacher  puts  forth 
from  his  heart,  in  his  language  and 
conduct,  as  something  flowing  from 
his  inner  being."  Bengel. 
of  thorns]  "  Although'their  hemes 
resemble  grapes,  as  the  heads  of 
thistles  do  figs."  Bengel. 
17.  Every  ^ood  (dyadov)  tree 
hring^eth  forth  good  (kciXovs) 
fruit.]  There  is  a  peculiar  fitness 
of  adaption  in  the  use  of  these  two 
epithets,  which  is  lost  in  our  version. 
The  tree  is  good,  the  fruit  Avhicli  it 
bears  is  not  only  good,  but  beautful. 
A  good  and  faithful  life  brings  forth 
its  good  and  beautiful  fruits,  not 
only  in  good  deeds,  but  in  the  knowl- 
edge to  which  it  leads  of  what  is 
true  and  fair.  22.  Many 


MATTHEW   VII. 


125 


prophesied  in  thy  name,  and  in  thy  name  have  cast  out  devils, 

23  and  in  thy  name  done  many  wonderful  works  ?  And  then 
will  I  profess  unto  them,  I  never  knew  you ;  depart  from  me, 

24  ye  that  work  iniquity. Therefore  whosoever  heareth  these 

sayings  of  mine,  and  doeth  them,  I  will  liken  him  unto  a  wise 

25  man,  which  built  his  house  upon  a  rock ;  and  the  rain  de- 
scended, and  the  floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and  beat 
upon  that  house ;  and  it  fell  not ,  for  it  was  founded  upon  a 

26  rock.  And  every  one  that  heareth  these  sayings  of  mine,  and 
doeth  them  not,  shall  be  likened  unto  a  foolish  man,  which 

27  built  his  house  upon  the  sand;  and  the  rain  descended,  and 
the  floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house ; 
and  it  fell ;  and  great  was  the  fall  of  it. 

28  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Jesus  had  ended  these  sayings, 

29  the  people  were  astonished  at  his  doctrine.  For  he  taught 
them  as  one  having  authority,  and  not  as  the  scribes. 


XXV.  31  -  46.  23.  I  never 

knew  you]  Never  recognized  them 
as  his  disciples.  For  all  their  loud 
professions  and  words  of  honor  and 
reverence  to  him,  he  knows  them 
not.  Only  those  who  receive  his 
ti'uth  into^  their  hearts  and  show  it 
forth  in  righteous  living  are  recog- 
nized as  his.  With  what  sublime 
and  majestic  authority  are  these 
words  uttered !  No  king  or  prophet 
could  ever  have  iised  such  language 
without  an  almost  insane  presump- 
tion. 24.  whosoever 
heareth  these  sayings  of  mine] 
To  hear  the  woras  of  Jesus  implies 
something  more  than  to  perceive 
them  with  the  outward  ear.  When 
on  the  mountain  of  Transfiguration, 
the  words,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son, 
in  whom  I  am  well  pleased,  hear  ye 
7?i'»t,"  were  spoken,  the  command 
implied  that  the  disciples  should 
hear  Avith  loving  and  believing 
hearts,  that  they  should  bring  them- 
selv_^s  so  into  sympathy  with  him,  or 
rather  into  such  an  attitude  of  lov- 
ing submission  before  him,  that  his 
words  should  find  a  welcome  in 
their  minds.  When  Mary,  sitting 
at  his  feet,  heard  his  word  (Luke 
X.  39),  it  was  with  reverential  aff"ec- 
tion  that  she  received  his  instnic- 
tions.     And  this    loving  reverence 

11* 


for  Christ  is  still  needed  in  order 
that  we  may  truly  hear  his  words. 
upon  a  rock]  The  living 
rock.  Is  there  not  here  an  alhision 
to  Christ  himself  as  the  foundation  ? 
The  expression  was  one  familiar  to 
the  Jews  in  relation  to  the  Messiah: 
"  Behold,  I  lay  in  Zion  for  a  foun- 
dation a  stone,  a  tried  stone,  a  pre- 
cious corner-stone,  a  sm-e  founda- 
tion "  (Isa.  xxviii.  16).  "  He  founds 
his  house  on  a  rock,"  says  Alford, 
"  who,  hearing  the  words  of  Christ, 
brings  his  heart  and  life  into  ac- 
cordance with  his  expressed  will, 
and  is  thus  by  faith  in  union  with 
him  founded  on  him.  Whereas  he 
who  merely  hears  his  words,  but 
does  them  not,  has  never  dug  down 
to  the  rock,  nor  become  united  with 
it,  nor  has  any  stability  in  the  hour 
of  trial."  25,27.  and  beat 

upon  that  house]  In  verse  25, 
the  Greek  woi-d  TrpocreTreaav  means 
to  fall  upon;  in  27,  irpoaiKoy^av 
means  to  sirike  or  dash  against. 
The  two  words  are  wisely  chosen 
to  describe  the  diflerent  effects  pro- 
duced by  the  same  temptations  on 
diflerent  persons;  falling  upon  the 
good  to  purify  and  confinn  them, 
but  dashing  violently  on  others  so  as 
entirely  to  overthrow  in  them  every 
principle  of  faith  and  love. 


126  3IATTHEW    VIII. 3IIRACLES, 


CHAPTER    YIII. 

Gospel  Yiew  of  INIiracles. 

In  this  and  the  next  four  chapters  we  have  detailed 
accounts  of  our  Saviour's  actions,  and  particularly  of  his 
miracles.  There  lie  in  some  minds  objections  so  strong 
against  miracles,  and  the  assaults  on  the  credibility  of  the 
Gospel  narratives  have  rested  so  much  on  these  objec- 
tions, that  it  may  be  well  here  to  look  carefully  into  the 
subject. 

What  is  a  miracle  ?  Not  a  violation  or  suspension  of 
the  laws  of  nature.  "  If,"  says  Olshausen,  Vol.  I.  p.  236, 
"  we  start  from  the  Scriptural  view  of  the  abiding  pres- 
ence of  God  in  the  world,  the  laws  of  nature  do  not  admit 
of  being  conceived  of  as  mechanical  arrangements,  which 
would  have  to  be  altered  by  interpositions  from  without ; 
but  they  have  the  character  of  being  based,  as  a  whole, 
in  God's  nature.  All  jDhenomena,  therefore,  which  are 
not  explicable  from  the  known  or  unknown  laws  of  the 
development  of  earthly  life  ought  not  for  that  reason  to 
be  looked  upon  as  violations  of  law  and  suspensions  of 
the  laws  of  nature  ;  rather,  they  are  themselves  compre- 
hended under  a  higher  general  law,  for  what  is  Divine  is 
truly  according  to  law.  That  which  is  not  Divine  is  against 
nature ;  the  real  miracle  is  natural,  but  in  a  higher  sense. 
It  is  true,  the  cause  of  the  miracle  must  not  be  sought 
within  the  sphere  of  created  things  ;  the  cause  of  it  exists 
rather  in  the  immediate  act  of  God." 

A  miracle,  then,  is  not  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  nature. 


MATTHEW    VIII. MIRACLES.  127 

It  is  not  an  effect  without  an  adequate  cause,  but  in  a 
miraculous  act  the  usual  course  of  physical  events  is 
changed,  the  usual  succession  of  physical  causes  and  effects 
is  stayed,  by  the  intervention  of  a  higher  power.  When 
a  man  raises  his  hand,  the  law  of  gravitation  is  not  sus- 
pended in  its  action  upon  the  hand ;  but  its  influence 
is  resisted  and  overcome  by  the  higher  power  which  in- 
tervenes through  an  act  of  the  will.  If^  as  may  be  the 
fact  in  some  cases  of  animal  magnetism,  a  man  is  able, 
by  a  simple  act  of  the  will,  to  raise  not  only  his  own 
arm  but  the  arms  of  another,  in  opposition  to  the  law 
of  gravitation,  there  would  be  no  violation  or  suspension 
of  that  law.  He  would  merely  overcome  its  resistance 
in  this  particular  case  by  the  intervention  of  another  and 
superior  power.  So  if,  by  a  yet  more  effective  exercise 
of  the  will,  he  could  stay  the  progress  of  disease,  quicken 
again  the  stagnant  current  of  life  in  the  veins,  or  bring 
back  to  the  physical  organs  the  functions  of  a  suspended 
vitality,  it  might  all  be,  so  far  as  we  can  know,  in  harmony 
with  the  laws  of  nature,  and  in  conformity  with  what  is 
everywhere  recognized  as  an  established  fact  or  law ; 
viz.  that  where  two  influences  or  forces  come  into  collision, 
the  weaker  must  yield  to  the  stronger.  Now,  according  to 
the  Gospel  narratives,  Christ  was  endow^ed  with  powers 
through  which  he  was  able  to  cleanse  the  leper  of  his  foul 
disease,  quench  the  fever  in  its  fiery  progress,  calm  the 
winds,  restore  the  maniac  to  his  right  mind,  and  expel 
demons,  by  an  exercise  of  the  will  to  him  as  easy  and 
as  natural  as  that  by  which  we  raise  an  arm,  or  with 
a  word  silence  the  noise  of  playful  children.  There  are 
no  thaumaturgical  displays,  such  as  we  always  find  with 
professed  wonder-workers.  There  are  no  marks  of  violent 
effort.  He  never,  in  performing  a  miracle  seems  to  go 
out  from  his  usual  and  normal  condition.  So  far  as  his 
methods  of  action  are  concerned,  there  is  nothing  to  sepa- 
rate these  from  his  other  works. 


128  MATTHEW    YIII. MIRACLES. 

In  conformity  with  this  supposition,  there  is  a  peculiar 
fitness  in  the  term  which  Jesus  usually  applied  to  his 
miraculous  acts.  In  the  Gospels  there  are  four  diiferent 
words  applied  to  miracles,  1.  prodigies  or  wonders^  repara; 
2.  poivers  or  mighty  works,  Bvvafieis ;  3.  signs,  a-qixfla ;  and, 
4.  ivorh,  fpya.  The  only  instance  in  which  the  word  repara, 
corresponding  to  our  word  miracles,  is  applied  to  miracu- 
lous acts  by  Jesus  is  where  he  speaks  of  them  (Matthew 
xxiv.  24;  Mark  xiii.  22)  as  performed  by  false  prophets, 
with  whom  they  must  indeed  have  been  prodigies  or 
wonders,  and  (John  iv.  48,  "  Except  ye  see  signs  and  won- 
ders, ye  will  not  beheve,")  where  he  speaks  of  them  as 
they  appear  to  those  who,  not  believing  in  him,  could 
regard  them  only  as  prodigies.  The  similar  word,  wonder- 
ful things,  Bavfidaia,  occurs  but  once  (Matthew  xxi.  15),  and 
there  when  mention  is  made  of  the  acts  of  Jesus  as  they 
appeared  to  the  chief  priests  and  scribes  who  did  not  be- 
lieve in  him.  Jesus  himself  never  used  either  of  these 
words  as  jiroperly  describing  what  he  had  done.  It  is 
to  be  regretted  that  the  distinction  which  is  so  carefully 
observed  in  the  original  should  not  have  been  retained 
in  the  translation,  and  especially  that  the  word  miracle, 
in  which  the  idea  of  something  wonderful  etymologically 
predominates,  should  not  have  been  confined,  as  it  is  in 
the  original  Gospels,  to  tlie  few  cases  where  such  a  mean- 
ing was  specially  applicable.  This  would  have  cut  off*  at 
once  the  whole  class  of  objections  which  arise  from  the 
habit  of  viewing  these  acts  as  something  monstrous  and 
unnatural.  "  The  very  word  Miracle,"  says  Mr.  Emerson, 
in  his  Divinity  College  Address,  p.  1 2,  "  as  pronounced  by 
Christian  churches,  gives  a  false  impression  ;  it  is  Monster. 
It  is  not  one  with  the  blowing  clover  and  the  falling  rain." 
But  this  "false  impression"  is  not  authorized  by  any  lan- 
guage of  Christ,  or  any  name  or  view  of  miracle  which 
has  been  used  by  the  Evangelists. 

Usually,  Jesus  places  his  miracles  among  his  other  acts 


MATTHEW   VIII. MIRACLES.  129 

without  any  word  to  distinguish  them  from  the  rest,  as  in 
his  message  to  John  the  Baptist  (Matthew  xi.  5),  or  where 
he  alludes  to  them  by  a  single  word,  he  calls  them  simply  his 
deeds  or  works  ipya.  To  him,  if  we  may  judge  from  his 
language,  they  were  neither  wonders  nor  acts  requiring  an 
extraordinary  exertion  of  power,  nor  signs,  but  simply 
actions  performed  in  the  natural  exercise  of  his  faculties. 
He  seldom  refers  to  them  at  all.  And  when  he  does  refer  to 
them,  except  on  two  or  three  occasions  when  the  state  of 
mind  in  those  to  whom  or  of  whom  he  was  speaking  required 
him  to  hold  them  up  in  the  light  in  which  they  appeared  to 
others,  he  speaks  of  them  merely  as  his  ivorhs.  He  never 
calls  them  signs,  except  that  twice  (Matthew  xii.  39,  xvi.  4; 
Luke  xi.  29)  he  alludes  to  his  death  and  resurrection  as  a 
sign  like  that  of  the  prophet  Jonah,  and  once  (John  vi.  26) 
he  says  that  the  multitudes  seek  him  not  because  they  saw 
the  signs,  o-T^^iela,  but  because  they  ate  of  the  loaves  and 
were  filled.  Nor  does  he  speak  of  them  as  powers  or 
mighty  acts,  except  Matthew  xi.  21,  23,  and  Luke  x.  13, 
when  upbraiding  the  faithless  cities  in  which  most  of  them 
had  been  wrought.  Ten  times  in  the  Gospel  of  John  (v.  20, 
36;  vii.  21;  x.  25,  37,  38;  xiv.  10,  11,  12;  xv.  24)  he 
speaks  of  them,  but  always  with  the  single  exception  already 
noticed  (vi.  26)  the  same  term,  works,  is  used. 

This  use  of  language  is  significant  in  many  ways.  1.  It 
gives  an  indication  of  the  construction  which  our  Saviour 
himself  put  upon  these  extraordinary  acts.  They  were  such 
as  man  had  never  done  before  (John  xv.  24),  but  still  they 
were  only  his  works,  not  wonders,  monsters,  or  prodigies, 
which  by  the  very  name  would  indicate  a  violation  of  the 
laws  of  nature.  2.  If  Jesus  had  been  an  impostor,  seeking 
to  impose  on  men  by  the  display  of  such  marvellous  powers, 
he  would  have  been  inclined  to  make  the  most  of  them  as 
signs  and  wonders,  and  to  refer  to  them  constantly  as  such. 
3.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  as  Strauss  and  others  suppose, 
Jesus,  a  pure  and  gifted  teacher  of  sublime  moral  and  relig- 


130  MATTHEW    VIII. MIRACLES. 

ious  truths,  never  performed  such  miraculous  acts  as  are 
ascribed  to  him  in  the  Gospel,  but  they  gradually,  as  myths 
or  legends,  grew  up  round  his  life  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  came  after  him,  and  thus  became  at  length  a  part  of 
his  personal  history,  then  they  who  put  the  Gospels  into 
their  present  shape,  whether  they  invented  these  stories 
themselves,  or  honestly  received  them  as  traditions  from 
an  earlier  age,  must  always  have  viewed  them  as  wonders 
and  prodigies,  and  spoken  of  them  as  such,  whether  refer- 
ring to  them  in  their  own  assumed  character  as  evangelists 
or  in  the  person  of  Jesus.  From  their  point  of  view  they 
could  not  have  regarded  them,  nor  could  they  have  con- 
ceived of  Jesus  as  regarding  them,  in  the  easy,  natural,  and 
subordinate  relation  which  they  now  hold  to  him.  Ko  one 
but  him  who  had  himself  lived  within  the  sphere  of  powers 
adequate  to  such  works,  and  to  whom  they  were  only  his  fit- 
ting and  appropriate  acts,  could  teach  men  to  regard  them 
in  such  a  light,  or  stand  as  the  original  model  for  such 
a  conception.  And  writers  who  had  not  been  conversant 
with  such  a  being,  or  known  these  to  be  the  real  facts  of 
the  case,  could  never  so  represent  him  and  them,  and  pre- 
serve throughout  on  such  a  scale  the  grand  but  harmonious 
proportions  of  his  divine  thought,  life,  and  acts.  Especially 
would  this  have  been  impossible  on  the  mythical  hypoth- 
esis, which  implies  that  the  writers  must  have  wrought 
their  accounts  of  miraculous  events  into  the  life  of  Jesus 
from  a  conviction,  on  their  part,  of  the  superior  dignity  and 
importance  of  those  events,  and  from  a  desire  through  them 
to  make  the  strongest  possible  impression  on  the  minds  of 
others. 

Ahvancis,  powers,  is  applied  to  miracles  seven  times  in 
Matthew,  four  times  in  Mark,  twice  in  Luke,  and  not  at  all 
in  John ;  arjixelov.  sign,  twice  in  Matthew  (xii.  39 ;  xvi.  4), 
twice  in  Mark  (xvi.  17,  20),  twice  in  Luke  (xi.  29 ;  xxiii. 
8),  and  fourteen  times  in  John ;  epyov,  twelve  times  in  John, 
but  not  at  all  in  any  other  Gospel,  and  in  John,  in  every 


MATTHEW    VIII. MIRACLES.  -^  131 

instance  but  one,  it  is  used  by  Jesus  himself.  The  dramatic 
propriety  in  the  use  of  these  words  by  Jesus  is  remarkable. 
The  name  wonders  is  given  to  miracles  from  their  effect; 
powers,  from  their  cause ;  signs,  from  their  purpose.  Works, 
the  only  word  literally  describing  them  as  they  are,  is  the 
one  used  by  Jesus. 

To  him,  living  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  by  whom  all 
power  had  been  given  to  him,  there  was  nothing  wonderful 
or  extraordinary  in  the  fact  that  he  should  still  the  tempest 
or  raise  the  dead.  From  the  deeper  spiritual  insight  which 
he  possessed,  and  the  higher  spiritual  powers  which  he  had 
come  into  the  world  to  exercise  and  to  impart,  he  regarded 
the  power  of  working  miracles  as  among  the  inferior  gifts, 
not  only  of  himself,  but  of  his  disciples  (Luke  x.  20),  and 
declared  that  they  who  believed  in  him  (John  xiv.  12) 
should  [in  the  exercise  of  their  spiritual  endowments]  per- 
form even  greater  works  than  those  which  he  had  done. 
And  if  he  had  actually  lived  in  the  conscious  exercise  of 
such  powers,  looking  out  on  the  world  of  matter  and  of 
spirit,  as  with  the  eye  of  God,  from  the  central  point  of  life 
and  thought,  and  so  impressing  himself  on  the  minds  of  his 
followers,  he  would  stand  betore  them  as  the  great  reality 
which  they  were  to  describe.  The  ascendency  which  he 
would  have  over  them  would  bring  their  minds  into  har- 
mony with  his.  His  modes  of  thought  would  become  theirs. 
The  miracles  which  at  first  awakened  their  astonishment, 
and  seemed  to  stand  out  as  prodigies,  would  at  length, 
through  his  higher  influences  and  instructions,  gradually 
subside  into  a  subordinate  place,*  and  there,  in  concert  with 
his  diviner  words  and  acts,  give  their  modest  testimony  to 
his  authority. 

Here  we  are  enabled  to  show  the  peculiar  office  of  the 
miracles  of  Jesus  in  testifying  to  the  truth  of  his  religion. 
1.  They  served  then,  as  they  have  in  all  ages  since,  to 
attract  the  attention  of  those  whose  spiritual  natures  were 
not   yet   sufficiently  unfolded   to  see  the  moral   beauty  of 


132  MATTHEW    VIII. MIRACLES. 

his  life  or  to  feel  the  spiritual  power  of  his  instructions. 
2.  He  referred  to  them  (John  v.  36;  x.  25;  xiv.  11)  as 
a  proof  of  the  divine  authority  with  which  he  spoke.  Stand- 
ing hy  themselves,  tliey  coukl  furnish  no  such  proof.  Tliey 
might  excite  our  wonder,  but  they  could  not  gain  our  con- 
fidence. We  should  painfully  feel  the  want  of  a  moral 
basis  for  their  support,  and  therefore  would  find  it  hard 
to  free  ourselves  from  a  suspicion  of  fraud.  But  the 
sjjotless  purity  which  marked  the  conduct  of  Jesus,  the 
moral  grandeur  of  his  instructions,  and  the  whole  tendency 
and  bearing  of  his  ministry,  give  a  perfect  assurance  that 
he  could  not  have  meant  to  deceive  Avhen  he  appealed 
as  he  did  to  his  miracles.  And  the  fact  that  they  were 
actually  performed  would  take  away  all  suspicion  of  his 
having  been  imposed  upon  himself.  AYhen  he  announced 
the  doctrine  of  man's  immortality,  for  example,  as  if  it 
were  a  fact  known  to  him  through  spiritual  powers  of 
vision  more  than  human,  we  should  feel  that,  however  lofty 
his  genius  and  pure  his  life,  he  might  be  deceived.  The 
habit  of  dwelling  so  earnestly  and  exclusively  on  sub- 
jects of  this  kind  might  lead  him  into  a  state  of  ecstasy, 
in  which  the  conceptions  of  his  own  mind  would  be  mis- 
taken for  objective  realities,  or  facts.  But  when  he  who 
announces  such  a  doctrine  stands  by  the  grave  of  one 
who  has  been  dead  three  days,  and  at  his  voice  the  dead 
man  comes  forth  alive,  this  work,  the  effect  of  more  than 
human  powers  of  action,  prepares  us  to  receive  the  doc- 
trine which  professes  to  come  from  more  than  human 
powers  of  spiritual  perception.  He  cannot  be  mistaken 
as  to  the  miraculous  fact  whicli  he  places  before  us ;  and 
this  takes  away  all  reasonable  suspicion  of  self-delusion 
or  mistake  in  regard  to  the  doctrine.  The  more  than 
human  powers  of  action  which  the  miracle  has  put  beyond 
question  must,  when  taken  in  connection  with  the  purity 
of  his  life,  oblige  us  to  recognize  the  more  than  human 
powers  of  spiritual  perception  which  he  claims  to  possess, 


MATTHEW    VIII. MIRACLES.  133 

and  to  receive  on  his  authority  the  doctrines  which  he 
announces  as  revealed  to  him  in  the  exercise  of  those 
powers.  Restoring  a  dead  man  to  Ufe  by  an  effort  of  the 
will  is  in  itself  no  evidence  of  our  immortality ;  but  it  is 
evidence  of  superhuman  powers  of  action  on  the  part  of 
him  who  has  performed  it,  and,  as  such,  taken  in  con- 
nection with  a  life  of  perfect  purity,  constrains  us  to  ad- 
mit his  claims  to  superhuman  powers  in  other  directions. 
Man  could  not  have  done  such  deeds  without  assistance 
from  some  power  or  agency  mightier  than  his  own.  Jesus 
says  (Luke  xi.  20)  it  was  by  the  finger  of  God  that  he 
cast  out  devils,  and  (John  xiv.  10)  that  it  was  the  Father 
dwellino-  in  him  who  did  the  works.      The  nature  of  the 

o 

doctrines  to  be  confirmed  and  of  the  kingdom  to  be  estab- 
lished by  them  shows,  as  he  justly  reasoned  (Luke  xi.  17) 
that  they  could  not  have  been  wrought  by  any  Satanic 
agency.  They  must  then  have  been  wrought  by  a  power 
(Matthew  xi.  27,  xxviii.  18)  specially  derived  from  God, 
and  in  attestation  of  his  authority  as  a  teacher  from  God. 
In  this  way  the  miracles  confirm,  beyond  all  possibility 
of  doubt  or  suspicion,  the  divine  authority  with  which 
he  spoke,  —  an  authority  which  without  them  could  not 
have  been  so  firmly  established  on  any  just  principles  of 
reasoning,  or  by  any  other  agencies  that  were  likely  to 
act  so  powerfully  on  the  human  mind  or  heart. 

3.  There  is  a  sense  of  harmony  and  completeness  which 
the  miracles  are  needed  to  fill  out  and  sustain,  in  our  con- 
ception of  Christ.  AYithout  the  superhuman  endowments 
implied  by  them,  words  such  as  we  find  on  almost  every 
page  of  the  Gospels  would  seem  to  us  almost  like  blas- 
phemy. When  he  says  (John  vi.  41),  "I  am  the  bread 
which  came  down  from  heaven,-'  or  (John  xi.  25),  "I  am 
the  resurrection  and  the  life,"  or  (Matthew  xi.  28),  "  Come 
unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest,"  the  words  seem  to  proceed  from  the  depths 
of  a  profound  humility.  They  are  the  natural  utterance 
12 


134  MATTHEW    VIII. MIRACLES. 

of  a  being  divinely  endowed,  and  condescending  with  in- 
expressible dignity  and  tenderness  to  our  weaknesses  and 
sorrows.  If  they  had  been  spoken  by  a  man  of  the  most 
exalted  piety  and  genius,  by  Milton  or  Fenelon,  or  by 
the  greatest  among  the  prophets  or  apostles,  by  Moses  or 
Elijah,  by  Peter,  John,  or  Paul,  they  Avould  fall  harshly 
upon  us.  As  spoken  by  Jesus,  they  awaken  a  sense  of 
harmony  and  repose.  They  are  in  character  with  all  that 
he  did  and  was.  But  if  the  divine  endowments  through 
which  his  miracles  were  wrought  should  be  taken  from 
him,  and  he  should  be  to  us  in  this  respect  like  other 
men,  the  words  to  which  we  turn  now  for  comfort  and 
support,  and  which  draw  us  so  affectingly  and  reverently 
to  him,  would  be  emptied  of  their  indwelling  life  and 
power.  They  would  no  longer  come  to  us  as  the  pledges 
of  God's  mercy  and  his  presence  among  men,  but  would 
mock  our  dearest  affections  and  our  hopes. 

When,  after  announcing  on  the  Mount  truths  such  as 
man  had  never  uttered,  speaking  with  an  authority  which 
awed  and  subdued  those  who  heard  him,  though  by  those 
very  words  he  was  breaking  up  and  disappointing  all 
the  ideas  and  expectations  of  the  Messiah  which  had 
been  cherished  for  centuries  in  the  heart  of  the  nation,  — 
when  from  the  utterance  of  divine  truths  such  as  these 
he  came  down  and  commanded  the  leper  to  be  cleansed 
or  the  centurion's  son  to  be  healed,  he  was  only  exercising 
in  another  direction  the  same  divine  power  that  he  had 
already  manifested  in  words  which  stand  a  perpetual  sign 
and  proof  of  his  more  than  mortal  endowments.  The 
whole  bearing  of  Christ,  as  he  appears  in  the  Gospels, 
is  simple  and  consistent  with  itself.  It  everywhere  testi- 
fies to  his  identity.  Whosoever  recognizes  the  miracles, 
and  enters  into  their  meaning,  is  prepared  to  receive  his 
instructions.  He  who  understands  his  words  most  thorough- 
ly, and  who  enters  most  deeply  into  his  spirit,  will  find  him- 
self admitted  there  within  "  the  hidings  of  a  power  "  wholly 


MATTHEAY    YIII.    1-4.  135 

adequate  to  the  performance  of  any  deeds  which  are  re- 
corded as  his.  For  he  who  with  a  divine  authority  uttered 
truths  kept  secret  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  and 
who  in  his  Hfe  so  far  transcended  the  loftiest  ideals  of 
virtue  and  holiness  that  ever  dawned  upon  the  soul,  was 
only  acting  in  perfect  consistency  with  himself  when  he 
did  works  "which  none  other  man"  had  ever  done. 

1-4.  —  Healing  the  Leper. 

When  Jesus  came  down  from  the  mountain  —  it  prob- 
ably was  not  till  the  morning  after  the  sermon  —  he  was 
still  followed  by  vast  numbers  of  people.  Among  others  a 
leper,  one  full  of  leprosy  (Luke  v.  12),  cut  off  by  his  unclean 
disease  from  familiar  intercourse  with  others,  hanging  upon 
the  skirts  of  the  crowd,  and  having  perhaps  heard  the  kind 
words  of  Jesus  to  them  that  are  afflicted,  watched  his  oppor- 
tunity, and,  as  soon  as, he  could  reach  him  without  com- 
ing into  immediate  contact  with  the  crowd,  approached 
him,  and,  with  the  mark  of  respect  usually  paid  by  an  infe- 
rior to  a  superior,  throwing  himself  before  him,  said,  "  Sir, 
if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make  me  clean."  And  Jesus,  stretch- 
ing out  his  hand,  touched  him,  and  said,  "  I  will ;  be  thou 
clean."  And  immediately  his  leprosy  was  cleansed.  There 
is  nothing,  it  will  be  observed,  in  the  manner  of  the  narra-» 
tive  to  distinguish  this  from  any  other  act  of  Jesus,  or  to 
indicate  any  unusual  exertion  or  exercise  of  power  on  his 
part.  He  charged  the  man  to  say  nothing  about  it  to  any 
one,  but  to  go  show  himself  to  the  priest,  and  offer  the  gift 
which  Moses  had  commanded  for  a  testimony  to  them. 
The  reason  for  enjoining  silence  may  have  been  to  secure 
from  the  priest  a  certificate  of  the  cure  before  his  jealousy 
was  excited  by  a  knowledge  of  the  manner  in  which  it  had 
been  effected.  The  certificate  once  obtained  would  be  a 
testimony  unto  them  —  whether  "  them  "  refers  to  the  priests 
or  the  people,  or,  as  it  well  may,  to  both  —  that  the  mirac- 


136  MATTHEW   VTTT.    1-4. 

ulous  cure  had  actually  been  wrought.  The  caution  may 
have  been  given  because  Jesus  foresaw  the  danger  either  to 
the  man's  person  or  character  to  which  he  would  be  exposed 
by  the  notoriety  that  must  follow  such  a  disclosure,  or,  as 
would  seem  from  Mark  i.  45,  Jesus  wished  himself  to  avoid 
the  notoriety  and  the  increasing  crowds  Avliich  were  likely 
to  be  caused  by  the  report  of  such  a  miracle,  and  which, 
according  to  Mark,  were  such  as  to  oblige  him  to  withdraw 
into  unfrequented  and  desert  places.  One  or  all  of  these 
reasons  may  have  influenced  Jesus,  and  he  may  also,  as 
Ambrose  has  said,  have  wished  to  set  to  his  disciples  an 
example  of  the  unostentatious  way  in  which  they  were  to 
exercise  their  miraculous  powers. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  leprosy  was  set  apart  by  the 
Jewish  law  from  all  other  diseases  as  in  a  peculiar  sense  the 
emblem  of  sin.  All  diseases  in  some  way  and  degree  imme- 
diately or  remotely  come  from  sin  or  a  violation  of  God's 
law.  But  this,  as  the  most  fearfijl  and  revolting  form  of 
disease,  was  selected  from  all  the  rest,  and  held  up  as  a 
proof  of  the  Divine  displeasure,  and  to  excite  the  religious 
horror  of  men  against  all  sin  and  uncleanness.  The  cases 
of  Miriam  (Numbers  xii.  10-15),  Gehazi  (2  Kings  v.  27), 
and  Uzziah  (2  Chronicles  xxvi.  16-21)  served  to  connect 
it  in  a  forcible  manner  with  the  direct  inflictions  of  Divine 
.justice.  "  The  Jews  themselves,"  says  Trench  on  Miracles, 
p.  177,  "termed  it  'the  finger  of  God,'  and  emphatically, 
'  the  stroke.'  They  said  that  it  attacked  first  a  man's  house, 
and,  if  he  did  not  turn,  his  clothing ;  and  then,  if  he  persisted 
in  sin,  himself:  a  fine  symbol,  whether  the  fact  was  so  or 
not,  of  the  manner  in  which  God's  judgments,  if  men  refuse 
to  listen  to  them,  reach  ever  nearer  to  the  centre  of  their 
life."  Even  the  Persians,  according  to  Herodotus,  Lib.  I. 
cap.  138,  cut  off  the  leper  from  intercourse  with  other  men 
as  if  he  were  suffering  for  some  peculiar  offence  against 
their  divinity. 

The  disease  assumed  different  forms,  and  the  marks  by 


MATTHEW   VIII.    1-4.  137 

which  the  diiFerent  kinds  are  distinguished  are  pointed 
out  with  great  minuteness  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
chapters  of  Leviticus.  Sometimes  it  covered  the  whole  body 
as  with  shining  scales  of  snow,  and  when  these  flakes  were 
rubbed  off  the  flesh  appeared  raw  and  inflamed  underneath. 
Sometimes  it  did  not  seriously  aifect  the  general  health, 
and  sometimes  the  whole  system  wasted  away,  toes  and  feet, 
fingers  and  arms  falling  off  joint  by  joint.  "  The  best  au- 
thors of  the  present  day,  who  have  had  an  opportunity  of 
observing  the  disease,"  says  Dr.  Kitto,  "  do  not  consider  it 
to  be  contagious."  But  when  the  Crusades  threw  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  Europeans  into  Asia,  the  seat  of  this  plague, 
it  spread  like  an  epidemic  over  all  Europe,  and  in  France 
alone  there  were  no  less  than  two  thousand  leper-houses  set 
apart  for  its  victims,  who  were  viewed  with  a  sort  of  relig- 
ious horror,  "  looked  upon,"  says  Calvin,  "  as  already  dead," 
and  clothed  in  shrouds  while  the  masses  for  the  dead  were 
said  for  them. 

In  Palestine  these  miserable  beings  are  now  confined  to 
a  spot  near  Jerusalem,  and  to  Nablous  which  occupies  the 
site  of  the  ancient  Shechem.  A  little  south  of  Jerusalem, 
"  and  hard  by  the  city  gate,"  says  Williams,  Holy  City,  Vol. 
I.  Sup.  p.  24,  "  are  the  Lepers^  Huts.  They  are  allowed  to 
intermarry,  and  thus  propagate  this  loathsome  malady  which 
is  hereditary.  And  a  most  pitiable  sight  it  is  to  see  the 
poor  wretches,  laid  at  the  entrance  of  the  gates  of  the  city, 
asking  alms  of  the  passengers,  with  outstretched  hands  or 
stumps,  in  various  stages  of  decay,  under  the  influence  of 
this  devouring  disease,  for  which,  I  believe,  no  effectual 
remedy  is  known.  I  saw  no  case  of  that  whiteness,  wliich 
is  mentioned  in  Scripture  as  the  symptom  of  this  disorder ; 
but  I  own  that  my  eyes  shrunk  with  horror  from  the  con- 
templation of  such  misery,  and  I  avoided  contact  with  them 
as  I  would  with  one  plague-stricken."  "  The  children," 
says  Dr.  Robinson,  Vol.  I.  p.  359,  "  are  said  to  be  healthy 
until  puberty  or  later ;  when  the  disease  makes  its  appear- 
12* 


138  MATTHEW    VIII.    1-4. 

ance  in  a  finger,  on  the  nose,  or  in  some  like  part  of  the 
body,  and  gradually  increases  so  long  as  the  victim  survives. 
They  are  said  often  to  live  to  the  age  of  forty  or  fifty  years." 

These  probably  are  afflicted  by  that  variety  of  the  dis- 
ease which  is  called  Elephantiasis.  But  in  whatever  form 
we  regard  it,  and  whether  it  was  contagious  or  not,  we 
see  enough  in  it  that  was  terrible  and  revolting  to  justify 
Moses  in  setting  it  apart  by  itself,  and  in  making  it,  if 
any  disease  were  to  be  used  for  tliat  purpose,  an  emblem 
of  the  unclean,  revolting,  and  deadly  nature  of  sin,  creep- 
in  2:  in  from  the  extremities  to  the  centre  of  life.  The 
leper,  says  Trench,  "  was  himself  a  dreadful  parable  of 
death.  It  is  evident  that  Moses  intended  that  he  should 
be  so  contemplated  by  all  the  ordinances  which  he  gave 
concerning  him.  The  leper  was  to  bear  about  the  em- 
blems of  death  (Lev.  xiii.  45),  the  rent  garments,  that 
is,  mourning  garments,  he  mourning  for  himself  as  for 
one  dead ;  the  head  bare,  as  they  were  wont  to  have 
it  who  were  in  communion  with  the  dead  (Num.  vi.  9 ; 
Ezek.  xxiv.  17),  and  the  hp  covered  (Ezek.  xxiv.  17). 
In  the  restoration,  too,  of  a  leper,  exactly  the  same  instru- 
ments of  cleansing  were  in  use  —  the  cedar-wood,  the  hyssop, 
and  the  scarlet  —  as  were  used  for  the  cleansing  of  one  de- 
filed through  a  dead  body,  or  aught  pertaining  to  death, 
and  which  were  never  in  use  upon  any  other  occasion. 
(Compare  Num.  xix.  6,  13,  18  with  Lev.  xiv.  4-7). 
-'  The  leper  was  as  one  dead,  and  as  such  was  to  be  put 
out  of  the  camp  (Lev.  xiii.  46 ;  Num.  v.  2  —  4 ;  2  Kings 
vii.  3),  or  afterwards  out  of  the  city ;  and  we  find  this 
law  to  have  been  so  strictly  enforced,  that  even  the  sister 
of  Moses  might  not  be  exempted  from  it  (Num.  xii.  14,  15), 
and  kings  themselves,  Uzziah  (2  Chron.  xxvi.  21)  and 
Azariah  (2  Kings  xv.  5),  must  submit  to  it." 

The  eminent  Jewish  writer,  Philo  Judaius,  whose  Plato- 
nizing  habits  of  thought,  however,  allow  little  weight  to  his 
authority  in  matters  of  this  kind,  whenever  he  refers  to  the 


MATTHEW    VIII.    1-4.  139 

Mosaic  accounts  of  leprosy  speaks  of  them  (Unchangeable- 
ness  of  God,  xxvii.,  xxviii.)  as  describing  the  taint  of  sin  in 
the  soul ;  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  disease  was  re- 
garded by  the  Jews  as  in  a  peculiar  manner  caused  by 
the  Divine  displeasure  in  punishment  for  sin,  and  to  be 
healed,  not  by  the  skill  of  man,  but  by  the  immediate 
act  of  God.  When  Jesus,  therefore,  healed  the  leper, 
he,  in  their  eyes,  not  merely  cured  liim  of  his  disease, 
but  cleansed  him  from  his  sin.  Evidently  this  idea  of 
cleansing  him  in  the  sight  of  the  law  is  that  which  is 
uppermost  in  the  mind  of  Matthew,  who  is  writing  for 
Jewish  readers  ;  while  Mark  and  Luke,  writing  for  those 
who  might  not  understand  the  full  force  of  the  Jewish 
expression  to  cleanse,  add  that  "  the  leprosy  departed 
from  him." 

This  view  of  the  disorder,  and  of  the  light  in  which  it 
was  regarded  by  the  Jews,  will  enable  us  to  understand 
something  of  the  feeling  with  which  the  wretched  man  who 
believed  himself  smitten  of  God,  and  cut  off  by  a  moral 
taint  as  well  as  by  a  most  loathsome  and  terrible  dis- 
ease from  the  companionship  of  man,  threw  himself  before 
Jesus,  and  looked  up  to  him  with  that  supplicating  ex- 
pression of  confidence,  "  Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst 
make  me  clean."  It  may  enable  us  to  see  how  Jesus, 
when  he  touched  him,  and  said,  "  I  will ;  be  thou  clean," 
must  have  appeared  to  the  Jews  as  standing  in  the  place 
of  God,  and  as  by  the  finger  of  God  removing,  not  only 
a  foul  disease,  but  at  the  same  time  and  by  the  same 
act  the  moral  taint  which  was  connected  with  it  as  cause 
with  effect.  And  it  may  also  enable  us  to  see  in  this 
what  is  characteristic  of  all  his  miracles,  that  the  moral 
influences  are  inseparably  connected  with  the  physical 
power  which  he  put  forth,  so  that  when  "himself  took," 
V.  17,  "our  infirmities  and  bare  our  sicknesses,"  he  also, 
in  a  deeper  sense,  as  our  version  of  the  passage  in  Isaiah 
has  it  (Isa.  liii.  4),  "  hath  borne  our  griefs  and  carried  our 


140  MATTHEW    VIII.    1-4. 

sorrows,"  or  even,  according  to  the  vSeptuagint  version,  "bears 
our  sins,  and  is  afflicted  in  our  behalf." 

In  its  primary  meaning,  the  expression,  "  be  thou  clean," 
or  "his  leprosy  was  cleansed,"  refers  to  the  law.  He 
was  clean  who  was  pronounced  to  be  so  by  the  priest. 
There  was  therefore  a  special  propriety  in  using  the  word 
cleanse  in  connection  with  the  command  to  go  to  a  priest. 
But  in  its  secondary  meaning,  which  was  undoubtedly 
uppermost  in  the  mind  both  of  Jesus  and  of  the  sufferer, 
it  referred  to  the  removal,  not  of  a  legal  restraint,  but  of 
the  disease  itself.  Whether  Jesus  at  the  same  time  had 
reference  to  the  moral  cleansing  from  sin,  the  renovation 
of  soul  as  well  as  of  body,  cannot  with  certainty  be  in- 
ferred from  anything  that  is  related  by  either  of  the  Evan- 
gelists, though,  if  the  view  above  given  of  leprosy  being 
set  apart  in  the  Mosaic  law  as  a  visible  type  and  ex- 
pression of  sin  and  its  consequences  be  true,  it  is  probable 
that  this  idea  was  also  included  in  the  words  of  Jesus. 

This  passing  from  things  sensible  to  things  spiritual  and 
the  reverse,  without  changing  the  language,  or  changing 
the  language  without  a  corresponding  change  in  the  thought, 
is  very  common  with  Jesus,  and  is  often  the  occasion  of 
perplexity  to  those  commentators  who  would  determine 
in  each  case  precisely  what  Avas  his  meaning.  Familiar 
instances  will  occur  to  every  diligent  student  of  the  Gos- 
pels. Indeed  it  is  characteristic  of  all  figurative  language, 
especially  when  that  language,  suggested  by  immediate 
objects  or  events,  is  charged  with  a  new  meaning,  and 
made  to  contain  and  perpetuate  thoughts  of  wide  applica- 
tion and  extent.  "  The  light  of  the  body  is  the  eye." 
"Whosever  shall  smite  thee  on  thy  right  cheek,  turn  to 
him  the  other  also."  "  Destroy  this  temple,  and  in  three 
days  I  will  raise  it  up."  "  Lift  up  your  eyes  and  look  on 
the  fields  ;  for  they  are  white  already  to  harvest."  Here 
are  examples  in  which  familiar  images  stand  before  us 
as  representatives  of  an  outward  and  material,  or  of  an 
inward  and  soiritual  fact. 


MATTHEW   VIII.    5-13.  141 


5-13. — Healing  the  Centurion's  Servant. 

Jesus  had  now  come  into  Capernaum,  which  might  be 
regarded  as  his  home,  though,  as  he  says,  v.  20,  he  had 
no  home  of  his  own.  He  only  accepted  the  hospitahty 
that  was  offered  him.  The  centurion  who  met  him  as 
he  entered  the  city  was  not  (Luke  vii.  1  - 10)  a  Jew, 
though  from  his  kindness  in  helping  the-  Jews  to  build 
a  synagogue  he  probably  was  a  believer  in  their  relig- 
ion. From  his  acquaintance  with  heathen  forms  of  worship 
and  of  faith,  in  which  he  had  doubtless  been  educated,  and 
which  could  hardly  have  been  effaced  from  his  mind,  the 
idea  of  spiritual  beings  occupying  different  subordinate 
positions,  and  ready,  as  the  inferior  heathen  gods  were 
supposed  to  be,  to  do  the  bidding  of  their  superiors,  must 
have  been  familiar  to  him.  It  is  difficult  to  determine 
precisely  what  idea  he,  from  his  peculiar  religious  associa- 
tions and  habits  of  thought,  may  have  had  of  Jesus.  He 
evidently  regarded  him  as  one  endowed  with  more  than 
human  attributes,  whom  he  felt  himself  unworthy  to  have 
under  his  roof,  but  who  might  command  his  agents,  as 
inferior  spirits,  to  remove  the  disease  from  his  servant. 
All  that  he  asks  is  that  Jesus  will  only  say  the  word, 
for  then  he  is  sure  that  his  servant  will  be  healed.  Since 
even  he,  in  his  subordinate  position  as  a  man  under  author- 
ity, had  soldiers  under  him  who  would  go  and  come  and 
do  as  he  commanded  them,  it  must  be  that  Jesus  could 
by  a  word  send  his  unseen  agents  to  do  whatever  he 
might  command.  It  was  this  perfect  confidence,  connected 
as  it  was  with  his  sense  of  personal  unworthiness,  that 
called  out  from  Jesus  the  strong  language  of  commen- 
dation which  he  used.  Such  faith,  —  such  a  readiness  to 
believe  and  trust  in  him,  —  he  had  not  found,  no,  not  in 
all  Israel. 

And  in  this  humble-minded  believer,  who  is  not  of  the 
seed  of  Abraham,  he  sees  a  type  of  the  thousands,  from 


142  MATTHEW    VIII.    5-13. 

the  Gentile  nations,  who  shall  crowd  into  his  kingdom, 
and  be  accepted  as  his  friends.  From  the  east  and  the 
west,  from  the  north  and  the  south  (Luke  xiii.  29),  they 
shall  come  to  the  feast,  and  recline  at  the  table  with 
Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob,  in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven, 
while  the  sons  of  the  kingdom  who  reject  his  offers  will 
be  cast  out  into  the  outer  darkness. 

The  allusion-  is  to  a  great  feast  held  in  the  evening, 
where  the  worthy  guests  are  admitted  to  partake  of  its 
joys,  while  they  who  come  without  the  fitting  qualifications 
are  turned  out  from  the  pleasant  light  and  festivity  within 
the  banqueting-hall,  into  the  darkness  of  night,  which  pre- 
vails without. 

The  image,  viewed  in  the  light  of  Oriental  usage,  is  an 
exceedingly  striking  one,  and  is  often  repeated  by  our 
Saviour  under  different  forms.  They  who  believed  them- 
selves the  exclusive  sons  of  the  kingdom,  entitled  above 
all  others  to  its  honors  and  its  joys,  in  the  day  of  its 
festal  triumph  and  rejoicing,  when  their  king,  the  long- 
expected  Messiah,  should  be  seated  on  his  throne  and 
invite  the  faithful  to  partake  of  his  feast,  should  see  him 
whom  they  had  rejected  exalted  over  all,  and  those  whom 
they  had  despised  as  outcasts  called  in  to  take  their  honored 
places  with  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob,  while  they 
themselves  should  be  thrust  out  from  the  light  and  splendor 
and  festivity  of  the  banquet-hall  to  the  outside  darkness  that 
was  pressing  upon  them,  and  the  shame,  sorrow,  indigna- 
tion, and  contempt  which  awaited  them  there.  No  image 
could  be  more  full  of  meaning  or  of  terror  to  the  Jews, 
than  to  be  not  only  excluded  from  the  great  company 
of  illustrious  men,  —  patriarchs  and  prophets  and  kings, — 
whom  they  professed  to  reverence ;  but  to  be  cast  out 
into  darkness  and  despair  at  the  very  hour  when  those 
whom  they  had  despised  as  outcasts  from  the  kingdom 
should  be  brought  in  to  the  royal  banquet. 

Jesus  then  spoke  the  word,  and  the  centurion's  servant, 


MATTHEW   VIII.    14-17.  143 

whom  he  had  never  seen,  was  healed  at  that  very  hour. 
Here,  again,  we  see  how  intimately  the  exercise  of  his 
miraculous  power  was  connected  with  the  high  religious 
purposes  of  his  mission.  Not  merely  was  that  power 
put  forth  to  relieve  the  sufferings  of  a  painful  disease 
and  to  reward  the  kind-hearted  master  by  restoring  to 
him  the  dying  servant  to  whom  he  was  fondly  attached, 
but  it  was  so  put  forth  as  to  confirm  his  religious  faith, 
and  give  the  weight  of  his  authority  to  the  sublime  in- 
structions by  which  it  was  accompanied,  and  which  reached 
through  temporal  disease  and  death  to  the  festive  light 
of  spiritual  joy  and  the  outer  darkness,  which  lie  in  realms 
beyond. 

14-17.  —  Bearing  OUR  Infirmities. 

After  healing  the  leper  and  the  centurion's  servant,  Jesus 
healed  Peter's  mother-in-law,  at  the  house  (Mark  i.  29) 
which  was  owned  by  Simon  [Peter]  and  Andrew.  Jesus, 
evidently  (Mark  i.  33,  35)  spent  the  night  there,  and  it 
may  have  been  his  usual  place  of  abode  while  in  Caper- 
naum. He  probably  arrived  there  in  the  morning,  and 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  place  had  remained  un- 
occupied through  the  hottest  part  of  the  day.  Towards 
night,  when  the  heat  had  so  far  abated  that  the  sick 
could  be  taken  abroad  without  exposure  to  its  severity, 
many  feeble  and  suffering  persons,  especially  those  who 
were  called  demoniacs,  were  brought  to  him,  and  the  whole 
city  was  gathered  together  in  the  court  by  the  door,  to 
witness  the  cures  that  he  wrought.  As  the  evening  shad- 
ows began  to  fall,  and  those  afflicted  with  various  fevers 
and  violent  madness  we^e  borne  to  him,  he  took  away 
their  diseases,  and  thus,  in  the  view  of  the  writer,  fulfilled 
in  himself  the  remarkable  words  of  the  prophet  (Isaiah 
liii.  4).  Matthew  translates  the  words  literally  from  the 
Hebrew,  "  Himself  took  our  infirmities,  and  bare  our  sick- 


144  MATTHEW   VIII.    14-17. 

nesses."  But  in  our  translation  of  Isaiah  liii.  4,  it  reads, 
"  Surely  he  hath  borne  our  griefs  and  carried  our  sorrows." 
In  the  Septuagint  it  is  rendered,  "  He  bears  our  sins  and 
is  pained  in  our  behalf,"  from  which  undoubtedly  is  bor- 
rowed (Heb.  ix.  28),  "  Christ  was  once  offered  to  bear 
the  sins  of  many,"  and  (1  Pet.  ii.  24),  "Who  his  own  self 
bare  our  sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree." 

But  which  of  these  meanings  is  the  true  one,  or  may 
we  accept  them  all  ?  Throughout  the  Scriptures,  as  in- 
deed in  all  the  writings  (particularly  those  of  an  imagina- 
tive character)  which  affect  us  most  deeply,  Avords  primarily 
expressing  ideas  connected  with  matter  and  our  physical 
condition  or  sensations,  extend  their  influence  into  the 
region  of  mental  or  moral  and  religious  ideas.  The  differ- 
ent shades  of  meaning  melt  insensibly  into  one  another, 
or  the  w^ords  are  placed  in  such  relations  that  we  may 
with  almost  equal  propriety  regard  them  as  standing  for 
ideas  belonging  to  any  one,  or  to  all,  of  these  classes. 
.The  passage  just  quoted  is  an  instance  of  this.  In  its 
primary  and  literal  signification  (Lowth,  Noyes,  Barnes, 
&c.)  it  undoubtedly  applies  to  bodily  sufferings  (infirmi- 
ties and  sicknesses),  and  therefore  furnishes  Matthew  from 
the  Messianic  prophecies  with  a  striking  illustration  of  the 
cures  which  he  had  just  described  as  performed  by  Jesus. 
But  these  same  words  (infirmities  and  sicknesses),  in  their 
secondary  meaning,  pass  over  into  the  region  of  mental 
affections,  and,  as  expressing  the  disorders  and  sufferings 
of  the  mind,  are  properly  translated,  as  in  our  common 
version,  griefs  and  sorrows.  Again,  the  same  words  may 
with  equal  propriety  be  taken  in  their  relation  to  the 
moral  nature,  and  then,  as  expressing  moral  disorders  and 
the  suflferings  consequent  upon  them,  they  may  be  ren- 
dered, as  in  the  Septuagint,  by  words  which  mean  sins 
and  sorrows :  "  He  bears  our  sins,  and  endures  sorrows 
in  our  behalf" 

The    interpretation    given   by    Matthew,    which    is    un- 


MATTHEW    VIII.    14-17.  145 

questionably  tlie  true,  as  it  is  the  literal  one,  in  its  applica- 
tion to  the  scene  before  him,  is  important  as  showing  in 
what  sense  the  Apostle,  writing  after  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus,  understood  him  to  have  taken  upon  himself  our 
infirmities  and  our  sicknesses.  When  he  healed  the  sick 
and  took  away  from  them  their  diseases,  then,  so  far  as 
bodily  infirmities  and  sicknesses  were  concerned,  the  words 
of  the  prophet  were  fulfilled.  If  therefore  the  infirmities 
and  sicknesses  which  the  prophet  speaks  of  should  have 
a  deeper  meaning  and  refer  also  to  diseases  which  afflict 
the  soul,  i.  e.  to  our  sins  and  the  sorrows  which  proceed 
from  them,  we  are  authorized  by  the  Apostle's  example 
to  infer  that  Jesus  takes  them  upon  himself  in  the  same 
way  in  which  he  takes  our  bodily  diseases,  and  that,  as 
in  healing  our  bodily  infirmities  and  removing  our  sick- 
nesses from  us,  "himself  bare"  them,  so  in  healing  the 
diseases  of  the  soul  and  removing  our  sins  from  us,  he 
in  like  manner  bears  them  in  his  own  body  and  takes 
them  upon  himself.  In  this  last  expression,  however,  from 
Peter,  as  also  in  Hebrews  ix.  28,  the  view  which  impressed 
Matthew  so  strongly  is  intensified  by  the  great  and  ad- 
ditional thought  of  the  crucifixion. 

But  while  the  passage  admits  of  these  three  different 
meanings  without  doing  violence  to  its  language,  can  we 
suppose  that  such  language  was  used  by  the  prophet  in 
order  that  M^e  might  deduce  from  it  any  one  or  all  of 
these  different  meanings  ?  There  is  nothing  in  the  con- 
text to  decide  this  question,  and,  in  the  absence  of  any 
such  aid,  the  literal  interpretation  is  the  most  natural,  and 
therefore  the  one  to  be  preferred  in  a  translation.  But 
is  there,  considered  by  itself,  any  absurdity  or  any  violent 
improbability,  in  the  supposition  that  language  may  in- 
tentionally be  so  used  as  to  express  a  fact,  which,  accord- 
ing to  our  state  of  mind  and  the  light  in  which  we  view 
it,  may  be  taken  either  in  its  physical,  its  mental,  or  its 
spiritual  bearings  and  relations,  especially  in  writings  so 
13 


146  MATTHEW    VIII.    14-17. 

intensely  imaginative  as  those  of  the  Hebrew  prophets, 
or  in  words  made  to  bear  such  unaccustomed  and  hitherto 
unknown  burdens  of  thought  and  hfe  as  those  which  Je- 
sus was  obhged  to  employ  ? 

From  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  his  mission  Christ 
was  obliged  to  impose  upon  M^ords  meanings  which  they 
had  never  borne  before,  and  which,  however  familiar  they 
may  be  to  us,  were  perpetually  misunderstood  and  stumbled 
over,  not  only  by  the  Jews,  but  by  his  own  immediate  dis- 
ciples. The  expression  kingdom  of  Heaven  was  used  by 
him  in  a  sense  entirely  different  from  that  in  which  they 
understood  it.  And  yet  there  must  have  been  some  com- 
mon point  of  intelligence,  or  the  expression  could  not 
have  been  used  as  a  medium  of  communication  between 
his  mind  and  theirs ;  it  could  only  have  misled  them, 
or  been  to  them  as  a  strange  tongue.  That  common 
point  was  the  Messiah's  kingdom.  Both  he  and  they 
used  the  words  kingdom  of  Heaven  to  express  that  idea. 
But  while  he  meant  that  they  should  understand  it  in 
that  sense  till  they  were  capable  of  something  better,  and 
used  the  expression,  knowing  that  they  would  so  apply 
it,  how  infinitely  above  their  conceptions  was  the  thought 
which  to  his  mind  radiated  from  those  words  and  threw 
its  divine  glories  around  them,  and  which  by  and  by 
should  open  on  their  minds  to  enlarge  and  spiritualize 
their  gross,  earthly  conceptions.  There  is  then  in  this 
case,  understood  and  intended  by  Christ,  a  double  mean- 
ing,—  one,  the  primary  meaning,  adapted  to  their  present 
condition,  making  a  lodgement  in  their  minds  ;  and  the  other, 
a  higher  spiritual  meaning  which  should  unfold  itself  from 
the  germ  lodged  there  with  the  higher  spiritual  develop- 
ment of  their  natures.  In  this  way  may  not  material 
images,  borrowed  from  an  earthly  kingdom,  have  been 
employed  by  the  ancient  prophets  to  familiarize  the  minds 
of  the  people  with  conceptions  as  pure  as  they  could  un- 
derstand, and  thus  keep  alive  the  heart  and  expectation 


MATTHEW    VIII.    18-22.  147 

of  the  nation  through  the  long  and  desolate  days  of  theii 
preparation,  till  at  last,  in  a  higher  spiritual  light,  and  witl? 
a  purer  type  of  character,  they  see  in  those  words  a  mean' 
ing  which  they  had  never  dreamed  of  before  ?  The  sub' 
ject  is  mentioned  here  only  to  call  the  reader's  attention 
to  it,  but  will  be  recurred  to  hereafter  more  than  once. 

18-22.  —  Let  the  Dead  bury  their  Dead. 

A  somewhat  similar  use  of  language  occurs  almost  imme-- 
diately  in  the  narrative  before  us.  Jesus,  oppressed  by 
the  multitudes,  had  commanded  his  disciples  to  prepare  to 
pass  over  the  lake,  when  a  scribe,  i.  e.  a  teacher  of  the 
law,  and  therefore  a  man  of  some  consequence,  offered  to 
follow  him  whithersoever  he  might  go.  Jesus,  perhaps 
seeing  that  motives  of  worldly  ambition  may  have  influ- 
enced him,  announced  to  him  his  own  homeless  condition. 
Then  another  person  came  and  asked  to  be  excused  from 
following  him  till  he  had  gone  and  buried  his  father. 
Jesus  replied,  "  Follow  me,  and  leave  the  dead  to  bury 
their  own  dead."  The  first  dead  is  used  in  a  spiritual 
sense,  of  those  who,  having  no  interest  in  Christ,  are  spirit- 
ually dead.  The  second  part  of  the  sentence  takes  up 
the  word  in  the  literal  and  bodily  sense  in  which  it  has 
just  been  used.  Thus  there  is  a  passing  from  one  mean- 
ing to  another,  and  a  commingling  of  different  meanings 
of  the  same  word  within  the  limits  of  a  very  short,  and, 
in  its  grammatical  construction,  a  very  simple,  sentence. 
The  probability  is,  that  the  disciple,  wishing  to  make  his 
filial  duty  an  excuse  for  not  immediately  following  Christ, 
of  whose  success  or  divine  mission  he  may  have  had 
doubts,  and  therefore  asking  to  be  permitted  to  tarry  at 
home  till  he  had  buried  his  father,  i.  e.  till  his  father 
had  died,  found  his  secret  motives  laid  bare  and  his  tempo- 
rizing policy  rebuked,  by  Christ's  suddenly  turning  upon 
him  in  its  higher  and  more  awful  application,   the   very 


148  MATTHEW   VIII.    23-27. 

word  which  he  had  used.  "  Suffer  me  first  to  hury  my 
father."  No,  "Leave  the  dead  to  bury  their  own  dead," 
"  but  go  thou  (Luke  ix.  60)  and  preach  the  kingdom  of 
God."  It  is  impossible  to  bring  out  the  whole  force  that 
is  compressed  into  these  few  words.  It  was  as  if  he  had 
said :  "  If  you  are  really  my  disciple,  you  have  received 
a  higher  life,  and  it  is  your  part  to  go  forth  with  the 
words  of  eternal  life,  causing  the  dead  to  live,  and  not 
linger  here  by  your  earthly  home,  waiting  till  your  father 
dies,  in  order  that  you  may  perform  the  rites  of  sepulture 
for  him.  It  is  a  higher  duty  to  save  the  living  than 
to  bury  the  dead."  The  condensed  force  and  pungency 
of  the  command,  which  rings  with  such  power  even  in 
the  ears  of  those  who  cannot  analyze  it,  is  lost  in  every 
attempt  to  explain  it  by  amplification.  The  force  con- 
sists very  much  in  the  sudden  retort  of  the  word  hury, 
the  rapid  change  from  a  literal  to  a  figurative  meaning, 
and  the  blending  of  both  in  one  with  such  a  compressed 
energy  of  utterance. 

It  is  not  probable  that  the  father  was  already  dead ; 
for  the  burial  usually  took  place  in  the  evening  after  the 
decease.  But  if  he  were  dead,  the  Avords  of  Jesus  will 
express  all  the  more  earnestly  the  uncompromising  urgency 
of  the  call. 


23-27.  —  Stilling  the  Tempest. 

The  Lake  or  Sea  of  Galilee,  of  Tiberias,  or  of  Genes- 
areth,  is  about  fourteen  statute  miles  long,  and  in  its 
widest  part  about  seven  miles  wide.  Except  on  the  north- 
western side,  about  Capernaum  and  northward,  where  the 
ascent  is  a  gradual  one,  and  reaches  to  a  height  of  from 
300  to  500  feet,  the  hills  on  its  borders  rise  steep,  but 
seldom  precipitous,  till  they  attain  to  an  elevation  of  800  or 
1,000  feet  above  the  lake.  Beyond  the  hills  on  the  north, 
the  snowy  summit   of  Mount   Hermon  rises    10,000    feet 


MATTHEW    VIII.    23-27.  149 

or  more  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  impression  made  by 
the  lake  and  the  surrounding  scenery  is  diiFerently  described 
by  different  writers.  Dr.  Robinson  says  that  the  attrac- 
tion lies  more  in  the  associations  than  in  the  scenery. 
"The  hills,"  he  says,  Voh  III.  p.  253,  "are  rounded  and 
tame,   with  little   of  the  picturesque  in    their   form;    they 

are  decked  by  no  shrubs  or  forests "Whoever  looks 

here  for  the  magnificence  of  the  Swiss  lakes,  or  the  softer 
beauty  of  those  of  England  and  the  United  States,  will 
be  disappointed."  Again,  at  p.  312,  he  says,  "The  form 
of  its  basin  is  not  unlike  an  oval ;  but  the  regular  and 
almost  unbroken  heights  which  enclose  it  bear  no  com- 
parison, as  to  vivid  and  powerful  effect,  with  the  wild  and 
stern  magnificence  around  the  caldron  of  the  Dead  Sea." 
Prof.  Hackett,  on  the  other  hand,  says,  p.  318,  "  For 
myself,  I  cannot  hesitate  to  say  that  the  appearance  of 
the  lake,  reposing  so  quietly  in  its  deep  bed,  the  frame- 
work of  hills  which  encase  it  on  almost  every  side,  the 
steep  precipices  coming  down  in  some  cases  so  boldly  to 
the  shore,  the  cloudless  sky  above,  having  its  every  hue 
and  variation  reflected  back  from  the  watery  mirror  be- 
neath, formed  in  my  eye  a  combination  of  landscape  beauty 
equal,  to  say  the  least,  to  any  other  which  it  has  been  my 
privilege  to  see  in  any  land." 

It  was  one  of  the  sudden  gusts  which  sweep  down 
through  mountain  gorges  that  threatened  to  destroy  the 
little  vessel  in  which  Jesus  and  his  disciples,  with  a  few 
others,  were  crossing  the  lake  from  the  northwestern  to- 
wards the  southeastern  shore.  It  was  in  the  evening  (Mark 
iv.  35,  36),  after  he  had  sent  the  multitude  away,  and 
probably  at  a  later  period  in  the  ministry  of  Jesus  than 
its  place  in  the  narrative  of  Matthew  would  indicate.  Jesus 
entered  the  boat  just  "  as  he  was,"  without  any  prepara- 
tion for  the  journey ;  and  being  doubtless  fatigued  by  the 
exhausting  labors  of  the  day,  he  had  fallen  asleep  at  tlie 
stern,  lying  on  a  pillow   (Mark  v.  38),  or  rather  a  "seat 

13* 


150  .  MATTHEW   VIII.   23-27. 

cover,"  which  was  probably  (Smith's  Dis.  on  the  Gos- 
pels, p.  287)  "  a  sheep-skin  with  the  fleece,  which  when 
rolled  up  served  as  a  pillow."  A  sudden  "  squall  of  wind," 
}ialXayj/  dvtfxov,  (Luke  viii.  23,)  came  down  upon  the  lake. 
There  was  a  violent  commotion  in  the  sea,  24,  "  the  waves 
beating  into  the  vessel,"  (Mark  iv.  37,)  so  that  it  was 
hidden  by  them,  and  filling  with  water.  -The  danger  was 
imminent  and  instant.  The  disciples  came,  one  of  them 
crying  out,  "  Lord,  save  us,  we  perish ; "  another,  "  Rabbi, 
carest  thou  not  that  we  perish?"  (Mark  iv.  38;)  and  an- 
other, with  yet  more  emphatic  urgency,  "  Master,  master, 
we  perish."  (Luke  viii.  24.)  He,  though  suddenly  awak- 
ened, mildly  expostulated  with  his  disciples,  "Why  are 
ye  fearful,  O  ye  of  little  faith  ? "  Then  he  arose,  and,  re- 
buking the  winds  and  the  sea,  —  "  the  wind  and  the  raging 
of  the  water,"  (Luke  viii.  24.)  —  he  said,  "  Peace,  be  still," 
and  immediately  there  was  a  great  calm. 

Some  modern  writers  have  endeavored  to  throw  dis- 
credit upon  the  narrative  by  denying  that  these  storms 
on  the  lake  are  dangerous,  and  even  Dr.  Robinson  has 
said,  that  in  our  day  they  are  neither  frequent  nor  severe. 
But  Mr.  Bartlett,  in  his  "  Footsteps  of  our  Lord  and  his 
Apostles,"  thus  describes  a  storm  which  he  witnessed  there 
on  one  occasion  after  sunset :  "  As  it  grew  darker,  the 
breeze  increased  to  a  gale,  the  lake  became  a  sheet  of 
foam,  and  the  white-headed  breakers  dashed  proudly  on 
the  rugged  beach."  If  such  storms  were  unusual,  they 
would  on  that  account  be  all  the  more  terrific  when  they 
did  come,  and  this  circumstance  would  account  for  the 
extreme  terror  of  the  disciples. 

We  cannot  help  quoting  here,  slightly  transposed,  a  few 
sentences  from  a  discourse  by  a  friend  whose  pure  mind 
and  spiritual  insight,  united  with  earnest  and  untiring 
habits  of  study,  would  have  done  much  for  Biblical  learn- 
ing if  his  life  had  been  spared.  "This  incident  in  the 
Saviour's  life,"  says  Rev.  George  F.  Simmons  in  his  Ser- 


MATTHEW    VIII.   23-27.  151 

mon  on  Christ  in  the  Storm,  "lies,  like  the  mirror  of  the 
lake  on  which  it  transpired,  amidst  the  solemnities  and 
eventfulness  of  the  Gospel  history.  It  lies  by  itself,  form- 
ing a  little  picture  of  bounded  outline.  Though  a  mere 
glimpse,  —  as  it  were  a  stream  of  sunlight  upon  distant 
water,  that  comes  out  for  a  moment,  and  is  over,  —  yet  it 
impressed  itself  upon  all  the  reporters  ;  for  each  of  the 
Gospels  has  given  it,  with  but  slight  circumstances  of 
difference.  The  imperturbable  calmness  of  the  great  lead- 
er's mind  makes  the  scene  itself  as  placid  as  a  summer's 
day.  It  raises  in  us  a  momentary  commotion,  and  then 
quiets  us  with  the  stillness  of  his  heaven-fast  mind.  The 
fear  of  the  disciples  was  by  no  means  unreasonable,  so 
far  as  the  circumstances  were  concerned.  But  in  the 
midst  of  it  all,  we  see  the  man  Jesus,  whose  name  is 
to  become  a  heavenly  name  to  all  the  world,  and  who 
first  is  to  go  through  such  a  cruel  martyrdom,  sunk  in 
the  unconsciousness  of  natural  slumber.  Neither  respon- 
sibility nor  the  unquiet  lake  disturbed  him.  While  the 
water  was  still,  much  might  have  occurred  to  him  as  to 
the  danger  of  losing  an  opportunity  of  exhortation  and 
teaching.  But  he  knew  that  Divine  Providence  needed 
not  that  means  should  be  pressed  beyond  their  natural 
measure.  A  lesson  for  all  whose  care  allows  them  no 
rest.  The  bed  is  hard ;  the  wind  is  bleak ;  the  waves 
dash  over  the  little  craft.  But  Jesus  sleeps  on.  We 
see  there  the  child  of  innocence  and  nature.  We  see 
there  the  child  of  labor  and  simplicity.  Heaven  is  to 
him  what  the  sky  and  air  are  to  the  natural  man.  His 
sleep  therefore  has  this  double  side.  It  is  the  sleep  of 
nature  and  the  repose  of  holiness.  All  sweet  affections, 
all  good  desires,  the  deep  calm  of  prayer,  the  prophetic 
vision  of  piety,  both  natural  and  heavenly  graces,  —  are 
garnered  up  in  that  heart  which  now  lives  only  in  holy 
dreams,  —  that  steadfast  will  taking  rest  from  the  watch- 
ful  guidance   of  the    magnificent    powers   intrusted   to   it. 


152  MATTHEW    VIII.    32-38. 

Too  soon  that  sleep  will  be  disturbed.  Too  soon  they 
who  now  call  to  him  will  not  be  able  to  watch  with  him 
one  little  hour.  Rest,  holy  child!  Saviour  and  Guide 
of  the  innocent,  rest!  It  is  well  for  us  to  covet  that 
capacity  for  sweet  and  perfect  sleep.  We  should  aim 
at  that  tranquillity  which  care  shall  not  disturb;  at  that 
sweetness  of  a  trustful  disposition  which  anxiety  shall  not 
embitter." 

32-38.  —  Angelic  Existences  and  Agencies. 

The  subject  here  introduced  brings  us  into  one  of  the 
most  obscure  departments  of  theological  and  metaphysical 
discussion.  The  region  of  pure  intelligence,  and  the  prov- 
ince of  physical  laws  and  forces,  have  been  explored  with 
great  care,  and  many  mature  and  satisfactory  results 'have 
been  reached.  In  both  these  departments  we  have  well- 
estabHshed  facts  as  a  scientific  basis  for  further  investiga- 
tions, even  if  we  have  not  arrived  at  any  thorouglily 
digested  and  perfected  system  of  philosophy.  But  the 
border  region,  in  which  mind  and  matter  are  connected 
and  acting  on  one  another,  is  particularly  difficult  of  ex- 
ploration, as  is  the  whole  realm  of  being  between  man 
and  God.  How  the  mind  is  here  united  with  a  physical 
organization,  how  it  acts  upon  the  nerves  and  brain,  or 
is  acted  upon  by  them,  so  as  to  gain  through  them  a  knowl- 
edge of  material  things,  are  questions  of  great  interest, 
but  involved  in  much  obscurity.  Whether,  under  abnor- 
mal conditions,  particularly  when  the  finer  parts  of  our 
physical  organization  are  unusually  excited  by  disease  or 
powerful  mental  emotions,  the  sensibilities  may  be  so  quick- 
ened as  to  lay  open  to  the  mind  new  avenues  of  informa- 
tion, or  new  senses  may  be  awakened,  are  questions  which 
belong  to  a  still  more  delicate  and  difficult  province  of 
inquiry.  Allowing  these  preternatural  sensibilities,  or,  as 
they  seem  to  us,  these  new  senses,  to  exist  in  some  extraor- 


MATTHEW    VIII.    32-38.  153 

dinary  instances,  and  that  through  them  knowledge  may 
be  gained  of  what  is  passing  in  the  minds  of  others  or 
what  is  going  on  in  distant  places,  have  we  any  reason 
to  suppose  that  here  is  anything  more  than  an  extraor- 
dinary quickening  of  the  perceptive  faculties,  and  through 
that  the  recognition  and  employment  of  some  new  phys- 
ical agent?  Or  are  we  to  suppose  that,  as  our  spirits 
act  through  our  physical  organizations,  and  in  ways  here- 
tofore unknown  make  impressions  on  other  minds,  or  under 
certain  conditions  are  admitted  to  a  knowledge  of  what 
they  think  or  believe,  so  also  we  may  be  brought  into 
connection  with  spirits  divested  of  their  material  forms, 
and  receive  communications  or  impressions  from  them? 
Can  we,  especially  in  certain  extremely  delicate  or  dis- 
ordered states  of  the  nerves,  lay  ourselves  open  to  these 
spirits,  or  put  ourselves  under  their  influence,  so  that  we,  as 
passive  instruments  or  mediums,  may  be  swayed  and  moved 
by  them,  consciously  or  unconsciously  uttering  their  words, 
thrilled  by  their  emotions,  imparting  their  thoughts? 

These  questions,  which  in  all  ages  have  more  or  less 
exercised  the  m-inds  of  men,  have  been  pressed  upon  us 
under  new  names  and  forms  by  the  still  unsatisfactory  ex- 
perience and  experiments  of  the  last  quarter  of  a  century. 

There  are  two  ways  of  looking  at  the  universe. 

1.  According  to  one,  we  recognize  the  existence  of  God 
and  men,  and  the  world  of  material  laws  and  forces.  Know- 
ing them,  we  know  all  that  it  is  worth  our  while  to  know. 
"We  have  only  to  worship  God,  to  be  just  and  true  to  our 
fellow-men,  to  study  and  obey  the  laws  of  nature.  All 
beyond  this  we  reject  as  fanciful  and  unreal,  and  there- 
fore unworthy  the  attention  of  a  strong,  enlightened,  and 
philosophical  mind. 

2.  On  the  other  hand,  while  admitting  these  facts  as 
containing  what  it  is  most  essential  for  us  to  know,  we 
may  believe  in  the  existence  and  agency  of  intervening 
spirits  between  man  and  God.      We  know  that  the  earth 


154  MATTHEW    VIII.    32-38. 

is  intimately  connected  with  all  the  heavenly  bodies,  seen 
or  unseen,  bound  by  the  same  laws,  acted  upon  by  influ- 
ences from  them,  and  that  it  would  be  left  in  utter  dark- 
ness and  desolation  if  they  should  be  withdrawn.  These 
bodies,  reaching  through  the  infinite  realms  of  space,  arc 
but  parts  of  one  vast  and  orderly  system  of  worlds,  mutually 
dependent  one  upon  another,  as  all  depend  on  Him  who  is 
the  Creator  and  Governor  of  all.  Now,  as  the  earth  is 
thus  united  in  fellowship  with  all  the  heavenly  constella- 
tions, and  is  affected  by  every  motion  in  their  distant 
spheres,  may  it  not  be  that  we  also,  as  spiritual  and 
intelligent  beings,  are  in  like  manner  connected  with  a 
vast  community  of  spirits,  rising  in  well-ordered  ranks  one 
above  another,  all  bound  together  by  the  same  laws,  sympa- 
thizing with  one  another,  worshipping  the  same  Father,  and 
seeking  to  accomplish  his  ends  ?  As  in  all  that  we  know 
of  his  works  here  we  see  his  designs  carried  on  by  his 
ministers  and  agents,  —  the  sun  diffusing  his  light,  the  earth 
bringing  forth  his  plants,  the  lightnings  his  messengers, 
and  man  employed  to  accomplish  his  ends,  —  so,  beyond 
what  our  eyes  can  see,  may  not  his  higher  purposes  still 
be  carried  on  by  intervening  agents,  by  the  ministry  of 
angels,  and  the  watchfulness  and  care  of  attendant  spirits  ? 
As  the  severest  rules  of  mathematical  reasoning  lead  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  most  distant  star  is  affected  by 
every  motion  on  the  earth,  might  we  not,  from  the  analo- 
gies of  the  physical  universe,  be  led  to  infer  that  there 
is  a  living  sympathy  between  the  highest  order  of  spiritual 
beings  and  their  brethren  of  kindred  nature  who  are 
passing  through  the  infancy  of  their  being  upon  the  earth  ? 
When  Jesus  speaks  (Matthew  xviii..  10)  of  the  intimate  re- 
lation between  his  Father  in  heaven  and  the  angels  of  little 
children,  and  when  he  speaks  (Luke  xv.  10)  of  the  joy 
there  is  in  the  presence  of  the  angels  of  God  over  one 
sinner  that  repenteth,  he  implies  nothing  inconsistent  with 
reason,  but  by  those   few  words  lights   up  the  realms  of 


MATTHEW    VIII.    32-38.  155 

spiritual  being,  and  reveals  to  us  relations  which  the 
analogies  of  nature  might  suggest  as  existing  between 
us  and  God's  unseen  ministering  spirits.  The  fact  that 
they  are  invisible  furnishes  no  presumption  against  their 
existence  ;  for  some  of  the  most  important  agents  in  nature, 
as  electricity  or  magnetism,  were,  in  their  constant  and 
essential  operation,  so  hidden  from  the  cognizance  of  man, 
that  for  thousands  of  years  he  had  no  knowledge  of  their 
existence. 

The  doctrine  then  of  the  existence  of  intelligent  beings, 
intermediate  between  man  and  God,  employed  by  their 
Creator  and  ours  in  carrying  out  his  purposes,  and  sustain- 
ing important  relations  to  us,  is  one  not  unreasonable  in 
itself,  though  it  belongs  to  a  class  of  facts  which  lie  beyond 
the  cognizance  of  our  perceptive  faculties. 

Which  of  the  views  given  above  is  most  in  accordance 
with  the  language  of  the  New  Testament  ?  The  question 
is  one  of  interpretation.  In  the  first  chapter  of  Matthew  we 
twice  meet  the  expression  angel  of  the  Lord^  and  the  word 
angel  occurs  three  times  (once,  v.  9,  with  a  peculiar  ex- 
planation )  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse.  Through- 
out the  Gospels  the  existence  of  angels  is  constantly  recog- 
nized, and  it  evidently  enters  into  the  religious  consciousness 
of  nearly  every  writer  in  the  New  Testament.  An  angel 
(Luke  i.  13,  31)  foretold  the  coming  of  John  the  Baptist 
and  of  the  Messiah  ;  an  angel  (Luke  ii.  9, 13)  announced  the 
birth  of  Jesus,  and  a  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host  joined 
in  the  song  of  gladness  Avhich  welcomed  that  event.  After 
the  Temptation  in  the  AVilderness  angels  came  and  minis- 
tered to  Jesus.  In  the  mountain  of  transfiguration  (Luke 
ix.  30,  31)  Moses  and  Elijah  appeared  in  glory  talking 
to  him  of  his  departure  which  he  was  about  to  accom- 
plish at  Jerusalem.  In  the  agony  of  the  garden  (Luke 
xxii.  43)  there  appeared  unto  him  an  angel  from  heaven, 
strengthening  him.  According  to  Matthew  and  John,  angels 
at   the   sepulchre  announced   his   resurrection,    while,    evi- 


156  MATTHEW    YIII.    32-38-  " 

dentlj  referring  to  the  same  thing,  Mark  speaks  of  a 
young  man  at  the  sepulchre  clothed  in  a  long  white  robe, 
and  Luke,  of  two  men  in  shining  gamnents.  At  the  as- 
cension, while  the  disciples  were  looking  steadfastly  to- 
wards heaven,  two  men  stood  near  them,  in  white  raiment 
(Acts  i.  10),  and  as  beings  from  another  world  spoke  to 
them. 

In  accordance  with  these  accounts  were  the  teachings 
of  Jesus.  "We  learn  from  our  Lord's  discourses,"  says 
Archbishop  Newcome,  in  his  Observations  on  our  Lord, 
Chap.  I.  Sec.  6,  "  that  the  heavenly  angels  are  a  numerous 
host  (Matthew  xxvi.  53),  that  they  are  raised  above  the 
imperfect  condition  of  humanity  (Matthew  xxii.  30),  and 
are  holy  (Matthew  xxv.  31 ;  Mark  viii.  38),  glorious  (Luke 
ix.  26),  and  immortal  (Luke  xx.  36)  beings;  that  they 
are  acquainted  (Matthew  xxiv.  36  ;  Mark  xiii.  32)  with 
many  of  God's  counsels,  though  not  with  all,  that  they 
are  occasionally  ministering  spirits  to  mankind,  both  in 
this  life  (Matthew  xviii.  10)  and  the  next  (Luke  xvi.  22)  ; 
that  at  the  last  day  our  Lord  will  come  to  judgment,  and 
all  the  holy  angels  with  him  (Matthew  xxv.  31),  and 
that  in  their  presence  he  will  confess  those  (Luke  xii.  8,  9) 
who  boldly  confess  him  before  men,  and  deny  those  Avho 
timidly  deny  him." 

It  is  impossible  to  explain  these  expressions  aAvay  as 
figurative  on  any  just  grounds  of  interpretation.  The 
language  both  of  Jesus  and  of  the  Evangelists  is  often 
specific  and  minute ;  it  is  used,  not  merely  in  passages  of 
an  imaginative  and  poetical  character,  but  in  the  plainest 
liistorical  details,  and  is  applied  under  circumstances  which 
admit  of  no  other  construction.  Where  there  is  no  specific 
and  formal  reference  to  tliem,  their  existence  is  sometimes 
implied  by  undesigned  and  spontaneous  allusions  which 
show  how  the  thought  of  them  entered  into  the  religious 
conceptions,  and  made  a  part  of  what  is  called  the  re- 
lio-ious  consciousness  of  Jesus  and  the  Evangelists. 


MATTHEW   VIII.    23-34.  157 


28  -  34.  —  Evil  and  Disorderly  Spirits. 

But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  existence  and  agency 
of  other  spirits  than  those  of  an  angelic  character  ?  The 
subject  has  already  been  opened  in  the  chapter  on  the 
Temptation  in  the  Wilderness.  To  deny  the  existence 
of  evil  spirits  is  not  to  destroy  the  kingdom  of  evil.  So 
long  as  sin  actually  exists  in  the  world,  and  evil  spirits 
are  allowed  to  dwell  as  wicked  men  in  human  bodies, 
and  under  the  limitations  and  restraints  of  our  nature,  the 
moral  objection  to  the  existence  of  evil  or  disorderly  spirits 
under  other  forms  is  wholly  without  force.  The  objection 
lies  against  sin  itself  and  its  fatal  influences.  But  as  sin 
does  exist  and  prevail,  why  may  it  not  show  itself  in  other 
modes  of  being  as  well  as  in  that  with  which  we  are  familiar  ? 
By  denying  the  existence  of  the  devil,  we,  as  Goethe  says, 
"  get  rid  of  the  wicked  one,  but  the  wicked  ones  remain." 
Besides,  what  becomes  of  all  the  wicked  men  who  are 
constantly  going  from  this  present  mode  of  life  to  another  ? 
We  cannot  suppose  the  bare  act  of  dying,  or  changing 
the  form  of  life,  to  work  an  essential  change  of  character, 
and  transform  them  from  sin  to  holiness.  If  they  exist 
at  all,  they  exist,  at  least  for  a  time,  as  evil  spirits.  Are 
they  then  permitted  to  go  at  large  for  a  season  ?  As  in 
this  world  good  and  bad  grow  up  together,  and  are  open  to 
influences  whether  of  good  or  of  evil  from  one  another, 
as  a  bad  man  often  is  permitted  to  have  access  to  inno- 
cent minds  and  to  corrupt  their  virtue,  may  it  not  also 
be,  as  Swedenborg  has  supposed,  in  those  modes  of  being 
which  lie  next  beyond  us,  that  the  good  and  the  bad  are 
for  a  season  allowed  to  live,  to  be  employed  in  their 
different  spheres,  and,  within  the  rules  and  limits  estab- 
lished by  the  all-wise  Creator  and  Ruler  of  all,  to  labor 
for  the  establishment  of  their  kingdom,  and  to  hold  out 
its  influences  to  those  who  are  still  upon  the  earth,  that 
they  may  receive  or  reject  them  ?  May  there  not  be  a 
14 


158  MATTHEW    Vlll.    28-34. 

kingdom  of  evil  as  well  as  a  kingdom  of  righteousness 
having  its  seat  beyond  us,  but,  within  the  conditions  and 
limitations  assigned  by  God,  reaching  down  its  poisonous 
influences  into  the  sphere  of  our  human  interests  and  re- 
lations ? 

The  great  and  terrible  fact  that  sin  with  its  baleful 
influences  does  exist  cannot  be  denied.  Its  enticements 
and  seductions,  its  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness, 
and  its  destruction  that  wasteth  at  noonday,  meet  us  at 
every  turn.  The  world  groans  under  a  sense  of  the  degra- 
dation and  misery  and  sorrows  which  it  inflicts.  Where 
is  its  source  ?  In  the  soul  of  man  or  in  the  world  beyond  ? 
Is  there  a  kingdom  of  darkness,  —  the  devil  and  his  angels, 
as  there  is  a  kingdom  of  light,  —  the  Son  of  Man  and  the 
holy  angels  with  him?  When  Christ  came  to  save  the 
world  from  sin,  did  he  have  to  contend  only  with  wicked 
men,  their  passions  and  crimes,  and  to  infuse  into  men's 
minds  the  elements  of  a  diviner  life  ?  Or  did  he  have 
to  contend  with  and  overthrow  a  kingdom  of  darkness, 
lying  beyond  this  world,  and  yet  intimately  associated  with 
it,  sending  out  its  emissaries  of  wrong  with  every  form  of 
temptation  to  take  advantage  of  the  weaknesses  of  our 
nature  and  lead  us  into  sin  ?  Did  the  Prince  of  Dark- 
ness with  his  agents,  recognizing  Jesus  as  one  who  had 
come  to  destroy  their  kingdom,  meet  him  in  the  wilder- 
ness, follow  him  through  his  ministry,  incite  Judas  to  betray 
him,  and  throw  every  obstruction  that  they  could  in  his 
path?  By  the  reference  which  Jesus  so  often  makes  to 
Satan,  his  kingdom,  and  his  messengers;  in  the  terrible 
depth  of  his  anguish  at  Gethsemane  and  his  cry  of  desola- 
tion upon  the  cross  ;  are  we  to  recognize  merely  the  ex- 
istence of  sin  in  its  impersonal  influence  and  authority, 
seated  deeply  in  the  heart  of  the  race,  and  incorporated 
into  all  its  institutions  and  habits ;  or  are  we  also  to  rec- 
ognize a  Prince  of  Darkness  with  his  attendant  and  obe- 
dient subjects  constituting  a  kingdom  of  iniquity,  and  per- 


MATTHEW    VIII.    28-34.  159 

mitted  for  a  season,  in  the  wise  providence  of  God,  to 
range  at  large  through  the  world  ? 

In  this  supposition  we  are  always  to  remember  that 
wicked  ones  are  not  omnipotent  because  they  are  spirit- 
ual, and  that,  as  wicked  men  here,  so  wicked  spirits  there, 
must  be  limited  by  the  laws  of  God,  and  by  the  very 
conditions  of  their  being,  in  the  sphere  and  mode  of  their 
operations.  The  moral  freedom  of  man,  which  God  him- 
self respects  in  all  his  dealings  with  him  for  his  salva- 
tion, he  will  unquestionably  constrain  wicked  spirits  to 
respect  and  leave  untouched  in  all  their  efforts  to  injure 
and  destroy  him.  Whatever  Jesus  may  have  taught  in 
regard  to  the  agency  of  evil  spirits,  the  whole  force  of 
his  instructions  goes  to  show,  that,  if  we  only  are  on  our 
guard,  they  can  have  no  influence  over  us  for  evil. 

The  question  of  the  existence  and  agency  of  evil  spirits, 
like  that  of  good  spirits,  is  not  one  embarrassed  by  any 
physical  impossibility  or  moral  improbability.  It  is  simply 
a  question  of  fact,  which  lies  open  to  evidence,  and  is  to 
be  treated  by  commentators  on  the  New  Testament  as 
a  question  of  interpretation.  What  then  is  taught  by  Jesus 
on  this  subject  ?  In  the  account  of  the  Temptation,  which 
must  have  been  derived  from  him,  he  speaks  of  Satan  as 
a  personal  being.  The  wicked  one  (Matthew  xiii.  19), 
Satan  (Mark  iv.  15),  and  the  devil  (Luke  viii.  12),  are 
used  as  equivalent  terms.  Jesus  (John  viii.  44)  tells  the 
Jews  that  they  are  of  their  father  the  devil,  and  (Matthew 
xii.  26)  he  speaks  of  Satan  as  establishing  a  kingdom. in 
opposition  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  He  speaks  (John 
xiv.  30)  of  the  prince  of  this  world,  who  hath  nothing 
in  him,  who  (John  xvi.  11)  is  judged,  and  (John  xii.  31) 
shall  be  cast  out.  He  says  (Luke  x.  17,  18),  "I  beheld 
Satan  as  lightning  fall  from  heaven,"  and  (Matthew  xxv.  41) 
he  speaks  of  the  "  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devil 
and  his  angels." 

It  is  possible  that  this  may  be  figurative  language,  used 


160  MATTHEW    YIII.    28-34. 

to  express  in  vivid  terms  the  power  of  evil.  But  in  read 
ing  the  Gospels,  and  the  whole  of  the  New  Testament 
with  care,  seeking,  without  any  prepossessions  on  our  part, 
to  enter  into  the  conception  of  Christ  and  his  disciples 
on  this  subject,  we  should  hardly  fail  to  jnfer  that,  to 
their  minds,  Satan  and  his  angels  were  personal  beings, 
acting  in  opposition  to  them,  and  exercising  a  dominion 
which  it  was  Christ's  office  to  overthrow.  The  lanjruajre 
of  the  New  Testament,  its  direct  expressions  and  indirect 
allusions,  harmonize  more  readily  with  this  than  with  any 
other  hypothesis.  For  further  considerations,  see  chapter 
xiii.  39. 

There  is  still  another  class  of  beings  referred  to  in 
language  which  is  to  be  taken  either  literally  or  figura- 
tively. As  there  are  the  Son  of  ]Man  and  the  holy  angels 
with  him,  and  the  devil  and  his  angels,  so  there  are 
demons,  bai^ovia  or  dalfioues,  and  demoniacs,  or  persons  sup- 
posed to  be  possessed  by  demons.  The  word  Devil,  see 
Whately  on  "  Good  and  Evil  Spirits,"  pp.  57,  80,  is  a 
proper  name,  always  in  the  singular  number.  Wherever 
the  word  devils  occurs  in  the  New  Testament  it  should 
read  demons,  that  being  the  word  in  the  original.  It  is 
unfortunate  that  in  our  version  these  beings  are  called 
devils.  They  were  considered  by  the  Jews  to  be  dis- 
orderly, mischievous,  and,  as  they  are  sometimes  called 
(Matthew  x.  1,  xii.  43,  Mark  iii.  11,  30,  &c.),  unclean 
spirits.  The  idea  seems  to  have  been,  that  they  were 
Avandering  about  the  earth,  seeking,  as  the  language  of 
Jesus  (Matthew  xii.  43  -  45)  suggests,  a  dwelling-place  in 
some  human  being, "  whose  will  they  might  control,  and 
whose  mental  and  physical  organs  they  might  succeed  in 
subordinating  to  their  own  uses. 

Two  different  views  of  this  subject  have  been  taken. 

On  the  one  side,  it  has  been  maintained,  that  demoniacs 
were  persons  affected  by  nervous  diseases  of  different 
kinds,  especially  when   those   diseases  were  so  severe   as 


MATTHEW   VIII.    28-34.  161 

to  unsettle  the  powers  of  reason  and  of  self-control.  In 
short,  they  were  either  subject  to  fits,  or  belonged  to  that 
large  class  of  sufferers  who  now  find  a  home,  and  often, 
from  physical  and  moral  treatment  combined,  a  cure,  in 
our  hospitals  for  the  insane. 

The  other  view  is,  that  while  the  demoniacs  were  un- 
questionably diseased,  suffering  particularly  from  those  ner- 
vous affections  which  are  induced  by  sensual  indulgence, 
and  through  which  the  whole  system,  physical,  mental, 
and  moral,  is  disordered  and  deranged,  they  were  actually 
besieged  and  taken  possession  of  by  these  mischievous 
spirits,  who  were  wandering  about  in  quest  of  a  dweiling- 
place.  The  spirits,  taking  advantage  of  the  utter  dis- 
harmony in  their  natures,  enter  through  the  rents  that 
have  been  made,  usurp  the  place  which  their  own  wills 
have  held  so  unsteadily,  and  exercise  over  them  in  body 
and  mind  a  control  more  or  less  entire  according  to  the 
degree  of  disorder  and  incapacity  that  they  find.  These 
unhappy  victims  of  demoniacal  influence  are  not  repre- 
sented as  adepts  in  sin.  They  are  not  wholly  given  over 
to  what  is  evil.  They  are  rather  imbecile,  or  without 
self-control,  given  over  perhaps  to  habits  of  sensual  in- 
dulgence, and  the  disorders  growing  out  of  it,  with  a  per- 
ception, as  the  Gadarene  had,  of  their  unhappiness,  but 
waging  a  feeble  war  against  temptation,  and  making  a 
feeble  and  therefore  ineffectual  resistance  to  the  tyrannous 
power  which  has  taken  possession  of  them,  and  which 
substitutes  his  will  and  at  times  his  consciousness  in  the 
place  of  theirs.  He  inflames  their  passions,  arms  them, 
as  paroxysms  of  insanity  sometimes  arm  men  now,  with 
an  almost  preternatural  strength,  drives  them  into  unfre- 
quented and  desolate  places,  weans  them  from  the  compan- 
ionship of  man,  fills  them  with  delusions  and  evil  thoughts, 
or  forces  them  to  isolate  themselves  in  the  midst  of  their 
friends  by  refusing  to  see  or  to  speak. 

In  support  of  the  opinion  that  these  cases  as  described 

14* 


162  MATTHEW    VIII.    28-34. 

in  the  New  Testament  are  only  cases  of  insanity  and 
other  severe  diseases,  particularly  nervous  affections,  it  is 
said,  —  1.  That  language  similar  to  that  which  is  applied 
to  these  cases  in  the  New  Testament  was  applied  by 
classical  writers  of  Greece  (Xenophon,  Mem.  I.  9  ;  Aristoph. 
Plut.  II.  3,  38)  to  sick  persons  who  were  to  be  cured  by 
medical  prescriptions.  2.  That  the  symptoms,  as  they  are 
brought  out  in  the  narratives,  are  such  as  truly  describe 
those  classes  of  diseases.  3.  That  the  Evangelists  apply 
the  same  language  to  sick,  melancholy,  and  insane  per- 
sons; e.  g.  (John  X.  20),  "He  hath  a  demon,  and  is 
mad."  4.  That  as  the  Jews  were  accustomed  to  attribute 
all  effects  proceeding  from  unknown  causes  to  invisible 
personal  agents,  they  attributed  these  mysterious  diseases 
particularly  to  demons,  and  Jesus  and  his  disciples,  in 
speaking  of  them  as  they  did,  only  used  the  popular  lan- 
guage by  which  those  diseases  were  generally  designated, 
just  as  we  use  the  words  lunatic  (moonstruck),  sunrise, 
and  sunset,  without  any  regard  to  their  literal  and  erroneous 
meaning.  5.  The  demoniacs  are  the  only  insane  persons 
whom  Jesus  is  said  in  the  Gospels  to  have  cured,  which 
is  very  remarkable,  if  the  two  words,  demoniacs  and  in- 
sane, do  not  describe  the  same  class  of  sufferers.  6.  If 
these  were  really  cases  of  demoniacal  possession,  how 
happens  it  that  they  were  so  numerous  then,  and  so  en- 
tirely unknown  now  ? 

On  the  other  side  it  is  said,  —  1.  That  as  these  cases 
were  usually  attended  by  disease,  the  medical  prescrip- 
tions were  not  out  of  place ;  and,  2.  Of  course  the  symp- 
toms would,  for  the  most  part,  be  such  as  would  characterize 
the  disease,  whatever  it  might  be.  3.  That  in  the  ex- 
pression (John  X.  20),  "  lie  has  a  demon,  and  is  mad," 
there  is  no  more  reason  to  consider  the  second  clause 
an  explanation  of  the  first  than  in  the  expression,  "  He 
has  a  fever,  and  is  delirious."  Considering  how  general 
and   unqualified  the   belief  in   demoniacal   influences   was 


MATTHEW   VIII.   28-34.  163 

among  the  Jews,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  in 
their  anger  against  Jesus  did  intend  to  describe  him  as 
one  possessed  by  an  evil  spirit,  and  therefore  raving,  when 
he  spoke  to  them  in  language  so  utterly  beyond  their 
comprehension.  4.  Though  Jesus  often  used  the  popular 
language  without  stopping  to  explain  the  errors  involved 
in  it,  yet  he  applies  this  language  to  demoniacs  in  ways 
and  under  circumstances  hardly  consistent  with  his  per- 
fect veracity,  if  he  knew  that  they  were  only  cases  of 
insanity.  Let  any  one  read  carefully  the  whole  passage 
(Luke  xi.  14- 2G),  and  ask  whether  on  such  a  supposition 
this  language  is  quite  consistent  with  our  ideas  of  perfect 
truthfulness.  Even  if  the  first  part  of  the  passage  should 
be  regarded  as  an  argiimentum  ad  hominem,  reasoning 
with  the  Jews  on  their  own  ground,  as  it  might  be,  it 
is  impossible  so  to  understand  the  last  three  verses,  where 
he  describes  the  unclean  spirit,  after  he  is  gone  out  of  a 
man,  as  wandering  through  deserts,  in  search  of  a  resting- 
place,  and  finding  none.  Not  only  in  public,  but  in  private 
conversations  with  his  disciples,  Jesus  uses  similar  lan- 
guage, ^n  private  directions  to  them,  he  says  (Matthew 
X.  8),  not  "heal  demoniacs,"  but  "cast  out  demons,"  and 
(xvii.  21)  when  they  come  to  him  confidentially  for  in- 
structions in  regard  to  a  case  of  this  kind  over  which 
they  had  no  power,  he  says,  "  This  kind  goeth  not  out 
but  by  prayer  and  fasting,"  —  language  which  must  have 
confirmed  them  in  the  belief  that  it  was  a  case  of  de- 
moniacal possession,  and  which  it  is  very  difficult  to  recon- 
cile with  his  veracity  unless  he  so  regarded  it.  5.  To  the 
question  why  demoniacs  were  so  common  then,  and  so 
unknown  now,  the  reply  is,  that,  in  the  moral  as  in  the 
physical  world,  particular  periods  are  marked  by  the  preva- 
lence of  particular  forms  of  evil.  Why  was  the  plague 
of  Athens,  of  Florence,  or  of  London  a  disease  so  fatal 
once,  and  so  unknown  now  ?  "  In  looking  over  the  past 
history  of  the  world,  with  reference  to  this  kind  of  phe- 


164  MATTHEW   Vni.   28-34. 

nomena,"  says  an  able  Swedenborgian  writer,  Ilayden  on 
Spiritualism,  p.  43,  "  we  shall  find  that  they  have  been 
exceedingly  active  in  periods  preceding  great  changes  in 
the  religious  state  of  the  world,  and  have  been  the  fore- 
runners of  events  that  have  powerfully  affected  the  minds 
of  men  on  a  variety  of  subjects,  especially  in  regard  to 
their  religious  sentiments."  If  such  beings  do  exist  around 
us,  we  should  expect  them  to  show  their  power  most  of 
all  in  a  time  of  moral  disorder  and  chaos  like  that  which 
preceded  our  Saviour's  coming,  and  be  excited  by  the 
fiercest  desire  to  extend  their  power  over  men  at  the 
time  when  he  was  about  to  put  down  these  disorderly 
agents,  and  establish  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.  "  If,"  says 
Trench,  on  The  Miracles,  p.  134,  "there  was  anything 
that  marked  the  period  of  our  Lord's  coming  in  the  flesh, 
and  that  immediately  succeeding,  it  was  the  wreck  and 
confusion  of  men's  spiritual  life  which  was  then,  the  sense 

of  utter  disharmony, with    the   tendency  to    rush 

with    a   frantic  eagerness  into  sensual    enjoyments  as  the 

refuge  from   despairing  thoughts It  was  exactly 

the  crisis  for  such  soul  maladies  as  these,  in  ^^lich  the 
spiritual  and  the  bodily  should  be  thus  strangely  inter- 
linked, and  it  is  nothing  wonderful  that  they  should  have 
abounded  at  that  time ;  for  the  predominance  of  certain 
spiritual  maladies  at  certain  epochs  of  the  world's  history 
which  were  specially  fitted  for  their  generation,  with  their 
gradual  decline  and  disappearance  in  others  less  congenial 
to  them,  is  a  fact  itself  admitting  no  manner  of  question." 
"We  must  not,"  says  Neander,  "Life  of  Jesus,"  p.  146, 
"  take  the  spirit  of  an  age  of  materialism  or  rationalism 
as  a  rule  for  judging  of  all  phenomena  of  the  y{/vxr} 
[soul]  which  veils  within  itself  the  Injimte,  which  is 
capable  of  such  manifold  excitement,  and  whose  various 
powers  are  alternately  dormant  and  active,  —  now  one  pre- 
vailing, and  now  another."  If  it  was  one  important  part 
of  the  mission  of  Christ  to  overthrow  here  the  dominion  of 


MATTHEAV    VHI.    28-34.  165 

evil  spirits,  and  to  break  up  their  dangerous  intercourse 
with  man,  this  alone  will  account  for  the  fact  that  such 
moral  disorders  as  demoniacal  possessions  should  no  longer 
be  found.  6.  Such  expressions  as  (Mark  i.  3-i)  are  hardly 
consistent  with  any  other  conception  on  the  part  of  the 
writer  than  that  of  an  actual  possession  by  demons ;  Jesus 
"  did  not  suffer  the  demons  to  speak,  because  they  knew  Mm.^" 

The  argument  is  not  decisive  on  either  side.  Each  per- 
son will  be  likely  to  adopt  that  view  which  accords  best 
with  his  opinions  in  regard  to  the  existence  and  influence 
of  spirits.  If  we  believe  in  the  ministry  of  angels,  —  that 
the  spirits  of  the  departed  may  still  linger  for  a  season 
near  their  accustomed  abodes  and  friends,  —  if  we  believe 
that  "this  world  of  ours  stands  not  isolated,  not  rounded 
and  complete  in  itself,  but  in  living  relation  with  two 
worlds,"  a  higher  and  a  lower,  —  that  we  are  not  only  to 
welcome  eveiy  impression  from  the  world  above,  but  to 
keep  the  gate  of  the  soul  closed  against  influences  from 
the  world  below,  —  we  shall  find  no  difficulty  in  admitting, 
that  at  that  momentous  crisis  when  the  moral  faculties 
of  the  race  were  so  dislocated  and  disordered,  evil  and 
unruly  spirits  may  have  had  an  extraordinary  sway,  and 
that  just  at  the  time  when  their  kingdom  was  about  to 
receive  a  blow  which  must  prove  fatal  in  the  end,  they 
may  have  been  excited  to  put  forth  unusual  efforts  in 
order  to  fortify  and  extend  their  authority. 

This  view  of  the  case  seems  to  us  upon  the  whole  best 
to  harmonize  the  different  terms  used  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, both  those  directly  connected  with  demoniacal  pos- 
sessions, and  those  which  refer  in  different  relations  to 
the  connection  between  this  and  other  worlds.  We  have 
very  little  doubt  that  this  was  the  belief  of  the  Evan- 
gelists themselves.  Whether  it  was  entertained  by  Jesus 
is  not  so  certain.  The  whole  subject  is  an  obscure  one.  It 
can  be  known  to  us  only  through  a  divine  revelation. 
From  its  very  nature,    and   our   acknowledged   ignorance 


166  MATTHEW  VIII.  28-34. 

of  such  matters,  we  must  expect  to  find  in  it  things  which 
we  cannot  fully  comprehend. 

We  shall  endeavor  to  explain  the  narrative  before  us, 
28-34,  in  accordance  with  each  of  these  views.  On  the 
first  supposition  we  may  say  that  the  symptoms,  as  they 
are  minutely  described  in  Luke  viii.  26-37,  and  more 
vividly  still  in  Mark  v.  1-17,  are  those  of  extreme  in- 
sanity. The  fierce  and  habitual  violence,  the  almost  pre- 
ternatural strength,  the  shrinking  from  the  society  of  men, 
living  naked  among  the  sepulchres  and  in  the  mountains, 
the  savage  outcries,  and  fierce  tearing  of  his  flesh  with 
stones,  are  symptoms  of  the  most  violent  insanity.  So  is 
his  double  consciousness,  speaking  now  in  his  own  person, 
as  when  he  came  and  threw  himself  down  before  Jesus, 
and  then,  in  the  violence  of  the  struggle  which  ensued 
when  Jesus  commanded  the  unclean  spirit  to  come  out  of 
him,  speaking  in  the  person  of  the  spirit,  and  afterwards 
in  his  still  more  violent  ravings  identifying  himself  with 
an  army  of  demons  by  whom  he  supposes  himself  to  be 
possessed.  These  are  the  wild,  rapid,  inconsistent  starts 
of  a  madman.  The  whole  narrative,  so  natural  and  life- 
like, bears  indisputable  marks  of  truth.  Even  the  transfer 
of  the  disease  to  the  swine  is  as  easily  accounted  for  on 
this  supposition  as  on  any.  Perhaps  there  is  no  one 
feature  of  the  case  which  may  not  be  thus  explained,  ex- 
cept his  recognition  of  Jesus  as  the  Son  of  the  Most  High 
God,  and  his  falling  down  in  reverence  before  him.  It 
is  possible,  but  very  improbable,  that  in  his  fierce  and  iso- 
lated condition  he  should  have  heard  reports  to  produce 
such  an  impression  on  his  mind. 

We  will  now  explain  it  on  the  other  theory.  We  will 
suppose  that,  in  addition  to  the  insanity  which  had  been 
brought  upon  himself  and  aggravated  in  all  its  symptoms 
by  habits  of  sensual  indulgence  and  the  attendant  disorders 
of  his  inward  life,  he  was  actually  possessed  by  a  demon 
whom  he,  having  once  admitted,  has  no  longer  the  power 


MATTHEW   VIII.   28-34.  167 

to  expel.  This  evil  spirit  has  taken  possession  of  his 
faculties,  fills  out  his  consciousness,  excites  in  him  the 
fiercest  enmities  and  passions,  drives  him  away  from  the 
abodes  of  men,  and  subordinates  his  nature  to  his  own 
mischievous  and  disorderly  will.  There  may  be  moments 
of  awakening  consciousness,  when  the  despotic  tyranny 
is  relaxed,  and  the  poor  man  returns  to  himself  and  feels 
his  misery.  Such  a  moment  may  have  come,  when  the 
spirit,  recognizing  with  awe  the  presence  of  Jesus,  was 
thrown  off  his  guard,  and  the  man,  thus  made  aware 
of  the  character  of  Christ  and  seizing  at  orice  on  the 
hope  of  deliverance,  ran  and  threw  himself  at  his  feet. 
But  immediately  the  spirit  regained  his  control,  the  frenzy 
returned  upon  his  victim,  and  believing  himself  now  to  be 
the  demon  by  whom  he  was  possessed,  the  act  of  homage 
by  which  he  had  thrown  himself  down  in  the  hope  of  re- 
lief was  turned  into  a  fierce  cry  of  rage  and  despair. 
"  What  hast  thou  to  do  with  me,  Jesus,  thou  Son  of  the 
Most  High  God.  Hast  thou  come  hither  to  torment  me 
before  the  time  ?  I  adjure  thee  by  God,  torment  me  not." 
For  Jesus  had  commanded  the  unclean  spirit  to  come 
out  of  the  man.  Then,  as  if  to  call  him  to  himself,  Jesus 
asked  him  his  name.  But  the  power  that  had  dominion 
over  him  was  not  then  relaxed,  and,  as  if  he  were  a  Avhole 
army  of  demons,  he  said,  "Legion  is  my  name."  And 
still,  under  the  same  control,  in  the  person  of  the  demons 
whom  he  supposes  himself  to  be  and  whose  words  he 
speaks,  he  besought  Jesus  that  he  would  not  (Mark  v.  10) 
send  them  away  out  of  the  place,  or  command  them  (Luke 
viii.  31)  to  go  out  into  the  abyss,  but  allow  them  to  ente^ 
a  vast  herd  of  swine  that  was  feeding  in  the  distance 
(Matthew  viii.  30)  there  on  the  mountain  near  the  sea 
(Mark  v.  11).  The  request  is  not  refused.  The  swine, 
seized  with  a  sudden  fury,  rush  headlong  down  the  preci-. 
pice  into  the  sea,  and  perish  in  the  waters. 

The  whole  account,  on  this  supposition,  is  perfectly  natu^ 


168  MATTHEW   VIII.    28-34. 

ral  and  consistent.  It  places  before  us  in  terrible  colors 
the  features  of  that  disjointed  and  discordant  life  which 
must  belong  to  a  human  being  subjected  to  such  a  for- 
eign control  before  his  whole  nature  is  consciously  and 
voluntarily  surrendered  to  what  is  evil. 

There  are  one  or  two  remarkable  expressions  here 
which,  on  this  supposition,  may  throw  a  little  light  on  a 
dark  and  difficult  subject.  "  What  hast  thou  to  do  with 
us  (Matthew  viii.  29),  Jesus,  thou  Son  of  God?"  indicates 
their  knowledge  of  Christ  as  of  a  superior  being  who 
has  authority  over  them.  But  how  could  the  maniac  have 
known  him  by  this  title  ?  The  second  clause  of  the  same 
sentence,  "  Hast  thou  come  to  torment  us  before  the  time  ?  " 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  they  knew  that  they  could 
be  allowed  to  range  at  liberty  only  for  a  season.  The 
same  fact  is  also  indicated  yet  more  strongly  by  their 
beseeching  Jesus  (Luke  viii.  31)  that  he  would  not  com- 
mand them  to  go  out  into  the  deep,  the  abyss,  which 
word,  wherever  it  is  used  in  the  New  Testament,  refers 
to  the  abode  of  the  dead  (Romans  x.  7)  or  the  abode  of 
wicked  spirits  (Rev.  ix.  1,  2,  11  ;  xi.  7  ;  xvii.  8;  xx.  1,  3). 
The  same  idea  is  probably  implied  in  the  request  of  the 
demons  (Mark  v.  10),  that  Jesus  would  not  send  them 
out  of  the  place.  The  inference  is  that  these  spirits,  who 
were  perhaps,  as  Swedenborg  asserts,  the  souls  of  de- 
parted men,  were  allowed  to  linger  for  a  time  about  the 
earth  before  they  entered  the  abyss. 

It  ought  to  be  added  that  this  is  the  strongest  case  to 
be  found  in  the  Gospels,  on  the  side  of  actual  demon- 
iacal possession. 


MATTHEW    VIII.  1G9 


NOTES. 


When  he  was  come  down  from  the  mountain,  great  multi- 

2  tudes  followed  him.  And,  behold,  there  came  a  leper  and 
worshipped  him,  saying,  Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst  make 

3  me  clean.  And  Jesus  put  forth  his  hand,  and  touched  him, 
saying,  I  will ;  be  thou  clean.     And  immediately  his  leprosy 

4  was  cleansed.  And  Jesus  saith  unto  him.  See  thou  tell  no 
man ;  but  go  thy  way,  show  thyself  to  the  priest,  and  offer  the 
gift  that  JNIoses  commanded,  for  a  testimony  unto  them. 

5  And  when  Jesus  was  entered  into  Capernaum,  there  came 

6  unto  him  a  centurion,  beseeching  him,  and  saying.  Lord,  my 
servant  lieth  at  home  sick  of  the  palsy,  grievously  torment- 

7  ed.     And  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  I  will  come  and  heal  him. 

8  The  centurion  answered  and  said :  Lord,  I  am  not  worthy  that 
thou  shouldest  come  under  my  roof;  but  speak  the  word  only, 

9  and  my  servant  shall  be  healed.  For  I  am  a  man  under  author- 
ity, having  soldiers  under  me  ;  and  I  say  to  this  man.  Go,  and 
he  goeth ;  and  to  another.  Come,  and  he  cometh ;  and  to  my 

10  servant.  Do  this,  and  he  doeth  it.  When  Jesus  heard  it,  he 
marvelled,  and  said  to  them  that  followed.  Verily  I  say  unto 

11  you,  I  have  not  found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel.  And  I 
say  unto  you,  that  many  shall  come  from  the  east  and  west, 
and  shall  sit  doAvn  with  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in 

5.  there    came    unto    him   a  8  and  9.    It  is  not  unusual  to  repre- 

centurion]     In  the  Koman  armv  ^ent  a  man  as  donig  InmseJf  wliat  he 

for  a  Ions  tune  each  legion  contained  does  througli  others.             6.  Lord] 

sixtv  centuriffi,  and  each  centuria,  A  term  by  which,  according  to  Gro- 

as  the  name  implies,  was  supposed  tms    and    Kiimoel,   the   Jews  Avere 

to  consist  of  a  liundred  men.     The  accustomed  to  address  even  stran- 

commander   of  one  of  these   com-  gers.     It  was   also   a   term  which, 

panies  was  called  a  centurion,  and  hke  our  Sir,  might  be  used  in  the 

according  to  Polvbius  (VI.  24),  he  most  respectful  salutations, 

was  usuallv  remarkable  less  for  his  8.  my  servant]      Literally,   "  my 

daring  valor  than  for  his  calmness  H."   or   ''my  son;''   but  in  Luke 

and  sagacity.     He  sat  as  a  judge  in  it  is  explained  as   servant,  boiikov. 

mhior  ofieiices,  and  was,  of  course,  10.  faith]     The  first  use 

in  a  province   like  Galilee,  a   man  of  this  word  in  the  Gospels,  though 

of  considerable  distinction  and  im-  the  corresponding  adjective  is  found 

portance.     According  to  Luke  (vii.  (vi.  30).     The  noun  here,  as  is  sug- 

1-10),  the  centurion  sent  elders  of  gested  by  the  adjective  there,  and 

the  Jews  to  Jesus,  and  did  not  him-  viii.  26,  means  trust,  confchnce,  and 

self  meet  him,  till  Jesus  had  come  implies  a  believing,  trusting  heart, 

near  his  house,  Avhen  he  spoke  to  11.  and  shall  sit  down 

him  substantially  as  here  in  verses  with]  shall  rtdiue  with.     At  their 
15 


170 


MATTHEW    VIII. 


the  kingdom  of  Heaven.    But  the  children  of  the  kingdom  shall  12 
be  cast  out  into  outer  darkness ;  there  shall  be  weeping  and 
gnashing  of  teeth.      And  Jesus  said  unto  the  centurion,  Go  13 
thy  way,  and  as  thou  hast  believed,  so  be  it  done  unto  thee. 
And  his  servant  was  healed  in  the  selfsame  hour. 

And  when  Jesus  was  come  into  Peter's  house,  he  saw  his  14 
wife's  mother  laid,  and  sick  of  a  fever.  And  he  touched  her  15 
hand,  and  the  fever  left  her ;    and  she  arose  and  ministered 

unto  them. When  the  even  was  come,  they  brought  unto  16 

him  many  that  were  possessed  with  devils ;  and  he  cast  out  the 
spirits  with  his  word,  and  healed  all  that  were  sick ;  that  it  17 
might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  Esaias  the  prophet, 
saying,    "Himself  took    our   infirmities,   and    bare   our    sick- 


Now  when  Jesus  saw  great  multitudes  about  him,  he  gave  is 
commandment  to  depart  unto  the  other  side.     And  a  certain  19 
scribe  came,  and  said  unto  him,  Master,  I  will  follow  thee 
whithersoever  thou   goest.     And   Jesus  saith  unto  him.  The  20 
foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests ;  but  the 
Son  of  Man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his  head.     And  another  of  21 


meals  the  Jews,  in  common  with 
other  Oriental  people,  reclined  on 
couches.  12.  there  shall 

be  weeping]  There  shall  be  the 
weeping ;  "  a  remarkable  article 
used  emphatically,"  "  as  though 
that  were  the  true  ideal  of  soitow, 
the  normal  standard  of  suffering, 
the  archetypal  reality  of  agony." 
"  In  this  life,  grief  is  not  yet  really 
grief."    Bengel.  12.  gnash- 

ing of  teeth]  "  from  impatience 
and  bitterest  remorse.  Self-love  in- 
dulged on  earth  will  then  be  trans- 
formed into  self-hate;  nor  will  the 
sufferer  be  ever  able  to  depart  from 
himself."  "  Another  exposition  is, 
the  soft  will  weep,  the  stern  will 
rage."  Bengel.  This  whole  im- 
agery is  from  the  marriage  feast,  —  a 
favorite  similitude  with  our  Lord, — 
lamps  and  torches  within,  the  dark- 
ness of  night  without. 
16.  tlie  even]  The  Jews  reckoned 
two  evenings,  the  first  evening 
beginning  with  the  declining  sun, 
or  about  three  o'clock,  P.  M. ;  the 


^econd  evening  beginning  with  the 
setting  sun.  The  hour  of  evening 
sacrifice  and  prayer  was  the  ninth 
hour,  or  about  three  o'clock.  See 
Robinson's  Lexicon.  19.  a 

certain  scribe]  one  scribe.  Few 
of  that  class  came  to  Jesus  with  a 
disposition  to  receive  and  follow 
him.  He  probably  saw  the  mis- 
taken motive,  or  the  infirmity  of 
purpose  with  which  this  scribe  had 
come;  and  knowing  that  such  fol- 
lowers could  only  Aveaken  his  cause, 
gave  him  such  an  answer  as  would 
reveal  him  to  himself,  and  lead  him 
voluntarily  to  go  away,  though  he 
may,  like'the  young  man  (xix.  22), 
have  gone  away  disappointed  and 
sorrowful.  20.  the  Son 

of  Man]  Dr.  Palfrey  supposes 
that  Jesus  used  this  phrase  "  as  con- 
taining a  reference  to  a  forni  of 
conception  and  of  speech  derived 
from  (or  at  least  according  with) 
a  passage  in  the  Book  of  Daniel 
(vii.  13, 14),  where  it  is  said,  'I  saw 
in  the  night  visions,  and  behold,  one 


MATTHEW    VIII. 


171 


his  disciples  said  unto  him,  Lord,  suffer  me   first  to  go  and 

22  bury  my  father.  But  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Follow  me,  and 
let  the  dead  bury  their  dead. 

23  And  when  he  was  entered  into  a  ship,  his  disciples  followed 

24  him.  And,  behold,  there  arose  a  great  tempest  in  the  sea,  in- 
somuch that  the  ship  was  covered  with  the  waves ;  but  he  Tvas 

25  asleep.     And  his  disciples  came  to  him,  and  awoke  him,  say- 

26  ing.  Lord,  save  us,  we  perish.  And  he  saith  unto  them.  Why 
are  ye  fearful,  O  ye  of  little  faith  ?  Then  he  arose,  and  re- 
buked the  winds  and  the   sea ;  and  there  was  a  great  calm. 

27  But  the  men  marvelled,  saying.  What  manner  of  man  is  this, 
that  even  the  Avinds  and  the  sea  obey  him  ? 

28  And  when  he  was  come  on  the  other  side,  into  the  country 
of  the  Gergesenes,  there  met  him  two  possessed  Avith  devils, 


like  a  [or  ihel  son  of  man  came 
with  the  clouds  of  heaven,'  &c.  In 
these  words,  the  subject  in  the  wri- 
ter's contemplation  was  the  coming 
of  the  Messiah  to  establish  the  king- 
dom of  Heaven.  Occurring  in  a 
passage  of  such  brilliancy,  the 
phrase  Son  of  JIan,  though  by  no 
means  sufficiently  specific  in  its 
meaning  to  be  restricted  into  a  des- 
ignation of  the  Messiah,  yet  was 
likely  to  take  a  place  among  those 
titles  Avhich  might  properly  be  ap- 

?Hed  to  him."  —  Relation  between 
udaism   and  Christianity,  pp.   66, 
67.  22.  let  the  diead  bury 

tlieir  dead]  It  may  be,  as  Bengel 
suggests,  that  this  is  meant  to  im- 
ply that  even  the  most  imperative 
offices  of  life  —  such  as  the  burying 
of  the  dead  —  should  be  left  to  be 
performed  by  others,  since  the  com- 
mand to  follow  him  was  too  imme- 
diately urgent  and  imperative  to  be 
put  aside  on  any  such  grounds. 
"  But  go,  thou,  and  preach  the  king- 
dom of  God;  that  is,  arouse  those 
who  are  dead;  being  called  to  this, 
leave  bm-ying  to  others,  who,  alas ! 
do  it  naturally  enough,  as  long  as 
they  themselves  are  as  dead  as  ihei?" 
dead."  "  Ye  are  called,  as  the 
living,  to  diffuse  life;  leave  every- 
thing else  as  bm\ying-work  to  the 
dead."     Stier.       '  23.  into  a 

ship]     The  size  of  the  ship  or  boat 


may  be  inferred  from  the  size  of 
the  lake.  There  is  great  weight  in 
a  remark  of  Bengel,  which  might 
be  carried  out  more  fully  than"  in 
his  words :  "  Jesus  had  a  moving 
school  (scholam  ambulant  em)  ;  and 
in  that  school  his  disciples  were 
instructed  much  more  solidly  than 
if  they  had  dwelt  under  the  roof  of 
a  single  college,  without  any  anxietv 
or  temptation.'"  26.  ani 

rebuked  the  winds]  Tiiished  them, 
or  commanded  them  to  be  silent. 
The  word  rebuke,  eTriTLfidto,  is  not 
used  to  express  displeasure  or 
anger,  but  as  a  command  to 
cease  from  what  one  is  already 
doing  or  saying.  "  And  he  charged 
[rebuked,  eTriri/xjycrej/]  them  not 
to  make  him  known."  (xii.  16.) 
28.  the  Gergesenes] 
In  Tischendorf,  Gadarenes.  In  Luke 
it  is  Gadarenes,  but  according  to 
Tischendorf,  Gerasenes.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  decide  among  these  different 
readings.  If  Um  Keis  occupies  the 
same  spot  as  the  ancient  Gadara  — 
and  of  that  there  seems  to  be  little 
doubt —  Gadara  could  not  have  been 
the  scene  of  this  miracle;  for  it  is, 
according  to  Thomson,  "  about  three 
hours,"  i.  e.  about  seven  or  eight 
miles,  "  to  the  south  of  the  extreme 
shore  of  the  lake  in  that  direction." 
But  Gersa  or  Chersa,  savs  Thom- 
son, Vol.  II.  pp.  35,  36,  ''  is  within 


172 


MATTHEW    VIII. 


coming  out  of  the  tombs,  exceeding  fierce,  so  that  no  man 
might  pass  by  that  way.     And,  behold,  they  cried  out,  saying,  29 
What  have  we  to  do  with  thee,  Jesus,  thou  Son  of  God  ?     Art 
thou  come  hither  to  torment  us  before  the  time  ?     And  there  w 
was  a  good  way  off  from  them  an  herd  of  many  swine  feeding. 


a  few  rods  of  the  shore,  and  an  im- 
mense mountain  rises  directly  above 
it,  in  which  are  ancient  tombs,  out 
of  some  of  which  the  two  men  pos- 
sessed of  the  devils  may  have  issued 
to  meet  Jesus.  The  lake  is  so  near 
the  base  of  the  mountain  that  the 
swine,  nishing  madly  down  it,  could 
not  stop,  but  Avould  be  hurried  on 
into  the  water  and  drowned.  The 
place  is  one  which  our  Lord  would 
be  likely  to  visit,  having  Capernaum 
in  full  view  to  the  north,  and  Galilee 
'  over  against  it,'  as  Luke  says  it 
was  (Luke  viii.  26).  The  name, 
however,  pronounced  by  the  Beda- 
win  Arabs,  is  so  similar  to  Gergesa, 
that  to  all  my  inquiries  for  this 
place  they  invariably  said  it  was 
at  Chersa,  and  they  insisted  that 
they  were  identical,  and  I  agi-ee 
with  them  in  this  opinion." 

two  possessed  Avith  devils] 
]\hirk  and  Luke  speak  of  only  one, 
and  represent  him  as  so  wild  and 
ungovernable,  that  he  dwelt  Avith- 
out  clothing  among  the  tombs,  driv- 
en by  the  demon  into  desert  places, 
(Luke  viii.  29),  continuing  day  and 
night  among  the  sepulchres  and  on 
the  mountains,  crying  out  and  cut- 
ting himself  with  stones  (Mark  v. 
5),  so  fierce  that  chains  and  fetters 
had  been  broken  by  him,  and  no 
man  was  able  to  subdue  him.  Yet 
when  he  saw  Jesus  coming,  while 
he  was  yet  afar  off  (Mark  v.  6),  he 
ran  and  prostrated  himself  before 
him,  and  shrieked  out  the  Avords, 
"  What  hast  thou  to  do  with  me, 
Jesus,  thou  Son  .of  the  Most  High 
God?  Art  thou  come  hither  to  tor- 
ment us  before  the  tnne  ?  I  adjure 
thee  by  God,  torment  me  not." 
Matthew  (xx.  30)  speaks  of  two 
blind  men,  where  Mark  and  Luke 
mention  but  one.  Li  each  case  their 
attention  may  have  been  confined  to 
the  more  conspicuous  of  the  two  as 
the   one   on  whoin   our   Saviour's 


poAver  Avas  most  decisively  exer- 
cised. MatthcAv,  from  his  office  as 
a  publican  or  tax-gatherer,  Avould 
be  likely  to  be  moi-e  precise  in  the 
use  of  numbers,  and  therefore  to 
mention  both,  even  though  the  par- 
ticulars of  the  account  Avhich  the 
other  Evangelists  have  preserved 
actually  applied  only  to  one. 

30.  a  good  way  off]  fiaKpav, 
far  from  them.  j\Iark  nnd  Luke 
say,  €^61,  "  There,  on  the  mountain." 
Tliere  is  no  inconsistency.  They 
Avere  there,  in  the  distance,  on  the 
mountain.  This  miracle,  Avhich  has 
more  the  air  of  a  legend  than  any 
other  in  the  Gospels  except  the  tak- 
ing of  money  from  the  mouth  of  a 
fish  (xvii.  27),  is  nevertheless  re- 
markably lifelike  and  natural  in 
its  details,  especially  as  they  are 
giA^en  by  Mark  aiuf  Luke.  'With 
the  exception  of  his  destruction  of 
the  fig-tree  (xxi.  19),  it  is  the  only 
miracle  of  Jesus  that  Avas  not  Avholly 
beneficent  in  its  effects.  But  the 
very  destruction  of  property,  as  in  a 
similar  case  (Acts  xvi.  16 -19), may 
have  been  to  shoAv  hoAV  much  more 
A-aluable  and  sacred  is  a  human  soul 
than  any  amount  of  gain.  It  may 
have  been  intended  as  a  rebuke  to 
those  Avho,  if  JeAvs,  Avere  keeping 
SAvine  in  violation  of  the  laAv.  It 
may,  in  some  Avay  unknown  to  us, 
have  been  necessary,  in  order  to 
effect  the  cui-e  and'^  make  it  per- 
manent. Or  still  more  probably,  it 
may  have  been  intended,  by  the 
very  considerable  magnitude  of  the 
loss',  to  attract  the  attention  of  the 
communitv,  as  the  cure  of  the  ma- 
niac alone'coukl  not  do,  and  prepare 
them  to  receive  the  Gospel  at  some 
future  day.  For  such  a  loss  Avould 
produce  'a  lasting  impression  on 
their  sordid  minds;  and  evidently 
the  people  in  the  vicinity  were 
moved  Avith  aAve  and  dread  by  this 
more  than  by  any  other  of  his  mir- 


MATTHEW    VIII. 


173 


31  So  the  devils  besought  him,  saying,   If  thou  cast  us  out,  suffer 

32  us  to  go  away  into  the  herd  of  swine.  And  he  said  unto  them. 
Go.  And  when  they  were  come  out,  they  went  into  the  herd 
of  swine.  And,  behold,  the  whole  herd  of  swine  ran  violently 
down  a  steep  place  into  the  sea,  and  perished  in  the  waters. 

33  And  they  that  kept  them  fled,  and  went  their  ways  into  the 
city,  and  told  everything,  and  what  was  befallen  to  the  pos- 

34  sessed  of  the  devils.  And,  behold,  the  whole  city  came  out  to 
meet  Jesus ;  and  when  they  saw  him,  they  besought  him  that 
he  would  depart  out  of  their  coasts. 


acles.  As  to  any  injustice  to  the 
owners,  it  Avas  "  God' who  inflicted 
this  loss;  and,  viewed  in  this  light, 
all  inquiry  respecting  the  particular 
cause  Avhy  it  was  inflicted,  and  all 
discussion  of  its  reason  or  justice 
in  reference  to  the  owner,  are  as 
much  out  of  place  as  they  would 
be  concerning  a  fire,  or  a  shipwreck, 
or  an  earthquake."  Norton's  "In- 
ternal Evidences  of  the  Genuineness 
of  the  Gospels,"  p.  282.  That  the 
miracle  was  intended  to  produce  a 
very  strong  impression  is  a  sugges- 
tion couiiteuanced  by  the  fact  that 


Jesus  directed  the  man  (Luke  viii. 
39)  to  go  home  and  declare  what 
great  things  God  had  done  for  him. 
The  leper,  v.  4,  luid  been  command- 
ed to  tell  no  one.  But  this  was  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  lake,  where 
Jesus  had  not  the  same  need  of 
privacy  as  on  the  western  side.  As 
he  was  immediately  to  leave  the 
place,  and  seldom  it"  ever  to  visit  it 
again,  he  may  have  been  desii-ous 
of  doing  what  he  might  to  extend 
the  knowledge  of  his  mission  in  that 
region. 


15* 


174  MATTHEW    IX.    18-26. 

CHAPTER    IX. 

18-20.  —  Christ's  Way  of  viewing  Death. 

The  explanation  of  these  miracles  will  belong  more  prop- 
erly to  Mark  v.  22  -  43.  A  single  expression  will  here  be 
noticed  (24),  "  The  maiden  is  not  dead,  but  sleeping."  01s- 
hausen  supposes  that  Jesus  intended  by  these  words  to  say 
that  she  really  was  not  dead,  but  only  "  in  a  deep  trance." 
"We  think  the  expression  is  rather  to  be  regarded  as  in- 
dicating the  view  which  Jesus  took  of  death.  To  him 
who  looked  through  the  shadowy  envelopments  of  mortal- 
ity, and  saw  in  its  higher  experience  the  ongoings  of 
the  life  here  begun,  death  could  not  appear  as  it  did  to 
others ;  and,  except  when  he  was  specially  obliged,  as 
in  John  xi.  14,  and  Matthew  xvi.  28,  to  adapt  him- 
self to  their  understanding,  he  would  naturally  apply  to 
it  forms  of  speech  diiferent  from  those  Avhich  Avere  then 
in  use.  Here  is  one  of  those  forms,  borrowed  possibly 
from  the  Old  Testament  (Deut.  xxxi.  16  ;  2  Icings  xx.  21). 
But  the  limited  expression  there,  "  He  slept  ivith  Ms 
fathers^^  is  taken  without  any  such  qualification,  and  the 
act  of  sleep  is  held  up  as  the  peaceful  and  fitting  emblem 
of  death.  "  Our  friend  Lazarus  has  fallen  asleep."  The 
expression  fixed  itself  among  his  followers.  "  Many  bodies 
of  saints  Avho  had  fallen  asleep  arose."  (Matthew  xxvii.  52.) 
"  And  having  said  this,  he  fell  asleep."  (Acts  vii.  60.) 
"  Of  whom  the  greater  j^art  remain  to  this  day,  but  some 
have  fallen  asleep."  (1  Cor.  xv.  6.)  "  They  who  have 
fallen  asleep  in  Christ."  (1  Cor.  xv.  18.)  This  softened 
mode  of  expression,  entering  the  Christian  consciousness, 
has  changed  the  whole  aspect  of  the  grave.  The  pall 
of  death  is  but  a  veil  of  slumber  thrown  over  the  mortal 


MATTHEW    IX.    18-26.  175 

form  of  those  who,  having  lived  in  Christ,  have  now- 
fallen  asleep  in  him.  How  in  harmony  is  all  this  with 
the  character  of  Jesus  !  He  to  whom  the  issues  out  of 
this  life  into  a  higher  realm  were  as  real  and  visible 
as  its  ordinary  transactions  here,  could  hardly  accept  as 
truthful  accounts  of  death  the  terms  which  were  employed 
by  men  on  whom  the  shadows  of  the  tomb  fell  with  their 
deep  and  hopeless  mystery.  Sometimes  he  is  obliged  to 
adapt  himself  to  the  comprehension  of  others.  But  usually 
he  speaks  of  death  in  other  ways.  It  is  a  sleep.  It  is 
rendering  back  a  gift  (Matthew  x.  39  ;  Luke  xvii.  33  ; 
John  xii.  25),  that  it  may  be  safely  preserved,  or  the 
laying  down  of  a  possession*  (John  x.  17),  that  it  may 
be  taken  again.  It  is  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man. 
(Matthew  xxv.  13,  31.)  It  is  the  harvest  at  the  end  of 
the  world  (Matthew  xiii.  39),  where  the  reapers  are  the 
angels.  "  The  beggar  died  (Luke  xvi,  22),  and  was  car- 
ried by  the  angels  into  Abraham's  bosom."  "  Father,  into 
thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit."  (Luke  xxiii.  46.)  There 
is  nothing  constrained  in  his  language.  The  whole  sub- 
ject is  transfigured  by  it ;  but  it  flows  so  easily  from  his 
own  higher  point  of  view,  that  we  hardly  see  what  power 
there  is  in  his  words,  unless  our  attention  is  particularly 
called  to  them.  He  does  not  formally  announce  the  Con- 
tinuance of  our  being  beyond  this  world,  but  rather  takes  it 
for  granted.  The  doctrine  enters  into  all  his  conceptions 
of  life,  makes  up  a  part  of  his  daily  consciousness,  and 
shows  itself  spontaneously  in  his  words  and  acts.  "  God 
is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living."  So,  not 
Moses  and  Elias  alone,  but  Abraham  and  Isaac  and 
Jacob,  the  maiden  here,  and  his  friend  Lazarus  at  Bethany, 
together  with  the  faithful  of  all  times,  were  still  among 
the  living  inhabitants  of  a  living  world.  Death,  in  his 
view,  belonged  to  the  soul  as  a  consequence  of  sin,  and 
not  to  the  body.  As  life  with  him  means  spiritual  life, 
so  death  (a  word  he  seldom  uses)  means  spiritual  death. 


176 


MATTHEW    IX. 


NOTES. 

And  lie  entered  into  a  ship,  and  passed  over,  and  came  into 
his  own  city.     And,  behold,  they  brought  to  him  a  man  sick  of  2 
the  palsy,  lying  on  a  bed.     And  Jesus,  seeing  their  faith,  said 
unto  the  sick  of  the  palsy.  Son,  be  of  good  cheer ;   thy  sins 
be  forijiven  thee.      And,  behold  certain  of  the  scribes  said   3 


1.  This  verse  belongs  properly  to 
the  preceding  nan-ative,  and  should 
be  placed  at  the  end  of  the  eighth 
chapter.  his  own  city] 

Capei-naiim.  2    Jesus  see- 

ing their  faith]  Matthew  speaks 
of  tlieir  faith.  Mark  (ii.  2-4)  and 
Luke  (v.  18-19)  explain  how  they 
showed  their  faith  by  the  extraor- 
dinary exertions  they  made  to  bring 
the  sick  man  thi-ough  the  roof.  The 
crowd  was  such  that  they  could  not 
enter  the  door.  They  carried  him 
up,  therefore,  by  an  outside  stair- 
way to  the  roof,' and  "  unroofing  the 
roof  [over]  where  he  was,"  they 
"having  broken  it  up,  let  him 
down."  "  The  horizontal  apertui-e 
m  the  flat  roof  had.  necessarily  a 
secondary  roof  or  porch  over  it,  to 
keep  out  the  rain.  The  aperture 
may  be  compared  to  the  cabin 
hatchway  of  a  ship,  and  the  porch 
to  the  companion.  The  main  roof 
is  covered  with  cement,  but,  if  my 
memoiy  serves  me  right,  the  sec- 
ondary I'oof  is  not  unfrequeutly 
sloping,  and  covered  with  tiles.  It 
is  fitted  to  allow  persons  in  an  up- 
right position  to  enter;  but  we  can 
easily  conceive  that  it  might  not  be 
fitted  to  admit  of  a  person  recum- 
bent on  a  couch  without  removing 
the  porch."  Smith's  Di<s.  on  Gos- 
pels, p.  272.  thy  sins  be 
forgiven  thee]  Jesus,  seeing  their 
faith,  and  probably  seeing  at  the 
same  time  the  anxiety  and  excite- 
ment of  the  young  man,  in  order  to 
remove  his  agitation  and  prepare 
the  way  for  his  cure,  addressed  him- 
self first  to  his  mental  condition, 
and  with  great  tenderness  said  to 
him,  '"Son,  be  of  good  cheer;  thy 
sins  are  forgiven."     There  was  in 


the  Jewish  mind  an  intimate  con- 
nection between  sin  and  disease,  as 
between  cause  and  effect.  "  Who 
forgiveth  all  thine  iniquities:  who 
healeth  all  thy  diseases."  (Ps.  ciii. 
3.)  "  Who  did  sin,  this  man  or  his 
parents,  that  he  was  born  blind?  " 
(Johii  ix  2.)  In  the  case  before  us, 
it  is  most  likely  that  the  disease,  or 
prostration  of  the  nervous  system, 
had  been  brought  on  by  vicious  ir- 
regularities and  excesses,  and  that, 
from  a  consciousness  of  this,  the 
young  man  in  approaching  a  being 
of  such  reputed  holiness  as  Jesus, 
may  have  been  so  disturbed  and 
overcome  with  a  sense  of  guilt  as  to 
need  the  comforting  assurance  of 
sins  forgiven  even  more  than  of 
bodily  health  restored. 
3.  certain  of  the  Scribes  said] 
The  form  of  expression  gave  offence 
to  the  Scribes  of  the  neighborhood 
who  were  present.  '*  Who,"  they 
ask  among  themselves  (Luke  v.  21), 
"  can  forgive  sins  but  God  alone?  " 
Jesus  does  not  assent  to  the  truth 
of  what  they  say,  that  God,  avIio 
acts  by  his  agents  so  often  in  the 
moral  administration  of  the  uni- 
verse, may  not  have  bestowed  on 
some  other  being  than  himself  the 
authority  to  forgive  sins,  and  remit 
the  pcntdty  which  they  bring;  but 
in  a  word,  evdv^ielade,  which  ap- 
plies both  to  the  thought  and  the 
emotions  occasioned  by  it,  asked*, 
why  they  were  cherishing  evil 
thoughts  and  emotions  in  their 
hearts?  "  For  which,"  he  con- 
tinues, pressing  the  point  home  to 
them, "  is  the  easier  to  say  ( not  to  do), 
'  Thv  sins  have  been  forgiven  thee,' 
or  'Arise  and  walk'?"  But,  that 
they  may  know,  that  (not  God  alone, 


MATTHEW    IX. 


177 


4  within  themselves,  This  man  blasphemeth.     And  Jesus,  know- 
ing  their   thoughts,    said,  AVherefore   think   ye   evil  in  your 
6   hearts  ?     For  whether  is  easier,  to  say.    Thy  sins  be  forgiv- 

6  en  thee  ?  or  to  say.  Arise,  and  walk  V  But  that  ye  may  know 
that  the  Son  of  Man  hath  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins  (then 
saith  he  to  the  sick  of  the  palsy),  Arise,  take  up  thy  bed,  and 

7  go  unto  thine  house.     And  he  arose,  and  departed  to  his  house. 

8  But  when  the  multitude  saw  it,  they  marvelled,  and  glorified 
God,  which  had  given  such  power  unto  men. 

9  And  as  Jesus  passed  forth  from  thence,  he  saw  a  man,  named 
Matthew,  sitting  at  the  receipt  of  custom;  and  he  saith  unto 

10  him,  Follow  me.     And  he  arose,  and  followed  him.     And  it 


but)  "the  Son  of  Man  on  earth 
hath  authority  to  forgive  sins,"  he 
commands  the  young  man  to  take 
up  liis  bed  and  go  home.  The  out- 
ward miracle  of  healing  which  they 
had  thus  seen,  and  which  therefore 
he  plainly  had  the  power  to  do,  was 
to  be  to  them  an  evidence  of  his  au- 
thority to  forgive  sins;  though  the 
forgiveness  of  sins  Avas  something 
which  they  could  not  see.  "  By  these 
visible  tides  of  God's  grace,  I  will 
give  you  to  know  in  what  direction 
the  great  under-currents  of  His  love 
are  setting,  and  that  both  are  obedi- 
ent to  my  word."  Trench.  It  may  be 
that  the  two  expressions,  ''  Thy  sins 
are  forgiven,''''  and  "  Thy  disease  is 
healed,''  were  synonymous  in  the 
mind  of  Him  who  saw  in  tlie  disease 
the  effect  and  punishment  of  sin; 
and  in  its  removal  the  Avithdrawal 
of  the  penalty,  and  consequently  the 
forgiveness  of  the  sin.  This  "pas- 
sage has  been  forced  into  a  contro- 
versial position  which  it  will  not 
sustain.  The  reasoning  of  the 
Scribes,  that  God  alone  can  for- 
give sins,  has  been  taken  on  (heir 
assertion,  notwithstanding  the  point- 
ed rebuke  which  they  received 
from  Jesus.  Whatever  may  be 
meant  by  the  authority  to  forgive 
sins  which  Christ  here  claims  for 
himself,  it  was  not  confined  to  him- 
self. He  ascribes  the  same  author- 
ity to  his  disciples  in  the  same 
words  (in  the  Greek)  that  are  liere 
used  to  express  the  forgiveness  of 
sins,  with  the  addition  of   a  still 


stronger  clause,  "  Whosesoever  sins 
ye  forgive,  they  are  forgiven  to 
them,  and  whosesoever  ye  retain 
they  are  retained."  (John  xx.  23.) 
Whether,  in  either  case,  the  act 
implies  anything  more  than  the  au- 
thority to'  declare  that  forgiveness 
is  granted  is  not  shown  by  anything 
connected  with  either  of  the  pas- 
sages before  us.  9.  at  the 
receipt  of  custom]  The  place 
for  collecting  taxes.  And 
he  arose  and  followed  him] 
The  readiness  Avith  which  the  call 
of  Jesus  is  obeyed  by  Matthew  in- 
timates, if  it  does  not  positively  im- 
ply, a  previous  acquaintance,'as  it 
did  in  the  calling  of  Peter  and  An- 
drew, John  and  James  (iv.  18.  22). 
In  the  conciseness  of  the  Gospel 
narratives  the  facts  actually  re- 
corded are  not  always  sufficient  to 
eJcplain  the  causes  and  motives 
which  led  to  them,  or  the  relation 
in  which  they  stand  to  one  another. 
Often  something  must  be  under- 
stood beyond  what  is  told.  The 
reader  will  also  observe  here  the 
modesty  with  which  the  writer 
speaks  of  himself,  especially  in  re- 
gard to  the  feast  (v.  10).  "  A  great 
ifeast"  (Luke  v.  29)  which  Matthew 
gave  to  Jesus  in  his  own  house. 
His  associates,  many  tax-gatherers, 
and  sinners  as  the  Pharisees  con- 
sidered them,  were  present.  The 
Pharisees  probably  were  not  there 
personally  to  partake  of  the  feast. 
They  Avould  not  pollute  themselves 
by  eating  in  so  promiscuous  a  com- 


178 


MATTHEW    IX. 


came  to  pass,  as  Jesus  sat  at  meat  in  the  house,  behold,  many 
publicans  and  sinners  came  and  sat  down  with  him  and  his  dis- 
ciples.    And  when  the  Pharisees  saw  it,  they  said  unto  his  1/ 
disciples,  AMiy  eateth  your  IMaster  with  publicans  and  sin- 
ners ?     But  w^hen  Jesus  heard  that,  he  said  unto  them,  They  u 
that  be  whole  need  not  a  physician,  but  they  that  are  sick. 
But  go  ye  and  learn  what  that  meaneth,  "  I  will  have  mercy,  13 
and  not  sacrifice."     For  I  am  not  come  to  call  the  righteous, 
but  sinners,  to  repentance. 


pany.  Their  censorious  remarks 
must  have  been  made  after  the  feast. 
"Why,"  they  ask  (v  11),  "does 
your  master  eat  with  publicans  and 
sinners?"  "Because,"  Jesus  in 
substance  repHes  (12,  13),  "these 
are  the  very  men  to  whom  I  have 
been  sent.  As  the  physician  is 
needed,  not  by  the  healtliy,  but  the 
sick,  so  am  Tcome  to  save,  not  the 
righteous,  but  the  sinful."  No  lan- 
guage can  be  plainer  than  this.  He 
does  not  say  that  these  persons  are 
sinful  above  others,  or  that  the 
Pharisees  are  truly  righteous.  He 
answers  the  Pharisees  on  their  own 
supposition,  taking  the  subject  as  it 
lies  in  their  minds.  It  is  as  if  he 
had  said:  "  Suppose  things  are  as 
you  think ;  suppose  that  tliese  per- 
sons are  the  sinners,  and  you  the 
righteous  ones ;  that  is  the  very  rea- 
son why  I,  as  the  physician  of  souls, 
should  go  to  them' rather  than  to 
you."  It  is  one  of  the  cases  in 
which  the  language  of  Jesus  applies 
in  many  Avays.  1.  It  announces 
the  general  truth  that  those  who  are 
already  righteous  do  not  need  a 
Saviour.  This,  as  a  general  propo- 
sition, is  equally  true,  whether  there 
are  any  such  persons  actually  liv- 
ing or  not.  2.  As  directed  to  the 
Pharisees,  it  takes  them  on  their 
own  ground,  and  gives  them  from 
their  own  point  of  view  a  reason, 
the  validity  of  which  they  must  ad- 
mit, Avhy  he  should  seek  out  the 
sinful  and  abandoned.  3.  I>ut  be- 
yond this,  with  a  keener  edge  and 
a  more  pungent  personal  applica- 
tion, he  turns  the  same  words 
against  them,  and  lays  bare  the 
emptiness   of   their  pretensions  to 


righteousness,  by  pressing  upon 
them  the  language  of  a  prophet 
{ Hosea  vi  6 )  Avhose  authority  they 
could  not  reject,  and  who,  by  the 
words,  "  I  will  have  mercy,  and  not 
sacrifice,"  unmasks  them  to  them- 
selves, and  rebukes  their  imforgiv- 
ing  and  uncharitable  judgments. 
At  the  same  time  that  Hosea  is 
made  to  expose  and  condemn  tlie 
Pharisees,  he  also  shows  the  char- 
acter and  office  of  Jesus,  who  mer- 
cifully came,  not  to  call  the  righte- 
ous, but  sinners.  13.  I  will 
have  mercy,  and  not  sacrifice] 
The  Hebrew  form  of  comparison, 
instead  of  "  I  will  have  mercy  rather 
than  sacrifice,"  —  the  spirit  indi- 
cated by  sacrifice,  which  was  only  a 
form,  rather  than  the  form  without 
the  spirit.  the  righteous] 
This  Avord,  dUaios,  it  has  been  said, 
is  used  to  express  an  outside,  for- 
mal, or  self-righteousness.  We  can 
find  no  such  use  of  it.  It  is  an  epi- 
thet for  what  is  right  in  the  sight 
of  God.  "  Pi-ophets  and  righteous 
men  desired  to  see  my  day."  (Matt, 
xiii.  17  )  "Then  shall  the  right- 
eous shine  forth  as  the  sun."  (xiii. 
43.)  "Then  shall  the  righteous 
answer  him."  (xxv.  37. )  "  The  just 
[righteous]  shall  live  by  faith." 
(Rom.  i.  17.)  "For  scarcely  for  a 
righteous  man  will  one  die :  though 
for  a  good  man  perhaps  one  even 
dares  to  die.  But  God  commended 
his  love  towards  us,  in  that  while  we 
were  yet  sinners  Christ  died  for  us," 
(Rom.\.  7,  8.)  Here  righteous  and 
good,  as  synonymous  terms  on  the 
one  hand,  are  contrasted  Avith  sin- 
ners on  the  other  to  re- 
pentance] is  omitted  by  Tischen- 


MATTHEW    IX. 


179 


14      Then  came  to  him  the  disciples  of  John,  saying,  "Why  do 

13  we  and  the  Pharisees  fast  oft,  but  thy  disciples  fast  not  ?     And 

Jesus  said  unto  them,  Can  the  children  of  the  bride-chamber 

mourn,  as  long  as  the  bridegroom  is  with  them  ?     But  the  days 

will  come,  when  the  bridegroom  shall  be  taken  from  them,  and 

16  then  shall  they  fast.     No  man  putteth  a  piece  of  new  cloth 
unto  an  old  garment ;  for  that  which  is  put  in  to  fill  it  up  tak- 

17  eth  from  the  garment,  and  the  rent  is  made  worse.    Neither  do 
men  put  new  wine  into  old  bottles;  else  the  bottles  break,  and 


dorf,  and  the  sense  is  greatly  im- 
proved by  tlie  omission. 
14.  Then]  Not  necessarily  at  that 
very  time  (though  it  may  have  been 
so),"^  but  about  that  time,  the  dis- 
ciples of  John,  who  had  not  then 
risen  far  enough  above  the  old  dis- 
pensation to  comprehend  the  new, 
in  its  true  character,  came  to  ask 
why  he  did  not  fast  as  they  and  the 
Pharisees  did?  15.  chil- 

dren of  the  bride -chamber] 
Not  ordinary  guests,  but  tlie  par- 
ticular friends  of  the  bridegroom, 
who  go  to  fetch  the  bride  from  her 
father's  house  to  the  bride-chamber, 
or  who  go  with  the  bridegroom  to 
the  house  where  the  festival  is  pre- 
pared and  the  bride  is  to  be  found. 
John  the  Baptist  had  already  pub- 
licly spoken  of  Jesus  (John  iii.  29) 
as  the  "  bridegroom."      This  gives 

f)eculiar  force  to  the  illustration 
lere  used  by  Jesus  in  his  reply  to 
John's  disciples.  "  How,"  he  asks, 
"  shall  the  very  sons  of  the  bride- 
chamber,  during  the  days  of  the 
marriage  festivities,  while  the  bride- 
groom is  with  them,  fast?"  It 
would  be  a  forced,  unnatural,  and 
unseemly  act.  But  the  days  will 
come  Avhen  the  bridegroom  shall  be 
taken  from  them,  and  then,  in  their 
loneliness  and  sorrow,  they  will 
have  no  heart  for  feasting,  but  will 
fast.  The  meaning  is,  that  fasting 
is  not  to  be  a  forced,  external  ob- 
servance at  stated  times,  whatever 
the  condition  of  a  man's  soul,  but 
that  Avheu  he  feels  his  desfjl.ition 
and  sinfulness,  then  he  will  mourn, 
and,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word, 
fjvst.  "  Fasting  should  be  the  genu- 
ine oflfspring  of  inward  and  spiritual 


sorrow,  of  the  sense  of  the  absence 
of  the  bridegroom  in  the  soul,  —  not 
the  forced  and  stated  fasts  of  the 
"  old  covenant  now  passed  away." 
"  It  is  remarkable  how  uniformly  a 
strict  attention  to  artificial  and 
prescribed  fasts  accompanies  a 
hankering  after  the  hybrid  cere- 
monial system  of  Rome."  Alford. 
16.  Then,  following  out  the  same 
thought  with  illustrations,  —  the 
garments  and  the  wine,  —  borrowed 
still  from  the  wedding  feast,  he  asks 
John's  disciples,  how  it  is  possible 
to  patch  up  an  old,  worn-out,  cere- 
monial system  with  something  new 
and  stronger,  but  still  of  the  same 
sort,  of  the  same  outside,  super- 
ficial, ceremonial  character?  By 
patching  this  piece  of  strong,  un- 
billed, badly-matched  cloth  on  the 
old  and  rotten  garment  you  do  not 
remedy  the  defect,  but,  on  account 
of  the  strain  that  is  put  upon  it,  you 
enlarge  the  rent,  and  by  the  con- 
trast make  the  jioverty  of  the  old 
garment  appear  even  worse  than 
it  did  before.  17.  new 

Avine  into  old  bottles]  And 
not  only  can  you  not  preserve  the  old 
ceremonial  obsei'vances  by  patch- 
ing new  rites  and  ceremonies  upon 
them,  but  you  cannot  preserve  them 
by  infusing  new  life  into  them.  The 
old  bottles,  made  of  skin,  smeared 
perhaps  on  the  inside  with  pitch, 
growing  stiff  and  Aveak  and  brittle 
as  they  grow  old,  are  not  fit  to  hold 
the  new  wine  in  its  state  of  vehe- 
ment fermentation.  No  more  is  the 
new  religion,  with  its  restless  and 
boundless  activities,  coming  as  a 
new  life  into  the  world,  to  be  com- 
pressed within  the  old  and  now  de- 


180 


MATTHEW   IX. 


the  wine  runneth  out,  and  tlic  bottles  perish ;  but  they  put  new 
wine  into  new  bottles,  and  both  are  preserved. 

While  he  spake  these  things  unto  them,  behold,  there  came  13 
a  certain  ruler  and  worshipped  him,  saying,  ]\Iy  daughter  is 
even  now  dead ;  but  come  and  lay  thy  hand  upon  her,  and  she 
shall  live.     And  Jesus  arose  and  followed  him,  and  so  did  his  19 

disciples. And,  behold,  a  woman,  which  was  diseased  with  20 

an  issue  of  blood  twelve  years,  came  behind  him,  and  touched 
the  hem  of  his  garment.     For  she  said  within  herself,  If  I  may  21 
but  touch  his  garment,  I  shall  be  whole.    But  Jesus  turned  him  22 
about,  and  when  he  saw  her,  he  said.  Daughter,  be  of  good 
comfort ;  thy  faith  hath  made  thee  Avhole.     And  the  woman 

was  made  whole  from  that  hour. And  when  Jesus  came  23 

into  the  ruler's  house,  and  saw  the  minstrels,  and  the  people 
making  a  noise,  he  said  unto  them.  Give  place ;  for  the  maid  24 


bilitated  forms ;  for  so  it  would  burst 
them  asunder.  Tlie  forms  Avould 
perish,  and  with  them  the  rehgioii 
which  had  souglit  sheUer,  expres- 
sion, and  the  means  of  activity  and 
influence  in  tliem.  The  new  faith 
must  assume  the  new  and  eh\stic 
forms  adapted  to  tlie  living  energies 
with  which  it  is  endowed;  and  then 
both  will  be  preserved.  18. 

My  daughter  is  even  now  dead] 
Not,  as  some  commentators  say,  is 
just  dying  ;  but  she  is  just  dtad ; 
apTL  €T€\evTt](Tev,  by  this  time  she 
is  dead.  23.  the  min- 
strels and  the  i>eople  making 
a  noise]  "  During  my  stay  in 
Jerusalem,"  savs  Professor  Hackett, 
"111.  of  Scrip.,"  p.  113,  "I  fre- 
quently heard  a,  singular  cry  issu- 
ing from  the  houses  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  place  where  I  lodged, 
or  from  tho^e  on  the  streets  through 
Avhich  I  passed I  ascer- 
tained, at  length,  that  this  peculiar 
cry  was,  no  doubt,  in  most  instances, 
the  signal  of  tlie  death  of  some  per- 
son in  the  house  from  which  it  was 
heard.  It  is  customary,  Avhen  a 
member  of  the  family  i's  about  to 
die,  for  the  friends  to  assemble 
around  him,  and  watch  the  ebbing 
away  of  life,  so  as  to  remark  the 
precise  moment  when  he  breathes 
his  last;   upon  which  they  set  up 


instantly  a  united  outcry,  attended 
with  weeping,  and  often  Avith  beat- 
ing upon  the  breast,  and  tearing  out 
the  hair  of  the  head.  How  exactly, 
at  the  moment  of  the  Saviour's  ar- 
rival, did  the  house  of  Jairus  cor- 
respond with  the  condition  of  one, 
at  the  present  time,  in  which  a 
death  has  just  taken  place !  It  re- 
sounded with  the  same  boisterous 
expression  of  grief  for  which  the 
natives  of  the  East  are  still  noted. 
The  lamentation  must  have  com- 
menced, also,  at  the  instant  of  the 
child's  decease;  for  when  Jesus  ar- 
rived he  found  the  mourners  already 
present  and  singing  the  death-like 
dirge.  (See  Mark  v.  22,  &c.)  The 
account  discloses  another  mark  of 
accm-acy  which  may  be  worth  point- 
ing out."^  ]\Iatthew  speaks  of 'min- 
strels '  as  taking  part  in  the  tumult. 
The  use  of  instruments  of  music 
at  such  times  is  not  universal,  but 
depends  on  the  circumstances  of  the 
family.  It  involves  some  expense, 
wliicii  cannot  always  be  afforded. 
Mr.  Latic  mentions  that  it  is  chiefly 
at  the  funerals  of  the  rich,  among 
tlie  Egyptians,  that  musicians  are 
em))Ioyed  to  contribute  their  part 
to  the"  mournful  celebration.  The 
'  minstrels,'  therefore,  appear  very 
properly  in  this  particular  history. 
Jairus, "the  father  of   the    damsel 


MATTHEW    IX. 


181 


is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth.     And  they  laughed  him  to  scorn. 

25  But  when  the  people  were  put  forth,  he  went  in,  and  took  her 

26  by  the  hand ;  and  the  maid  arose.  And  the  fame  hereof 
went  abroad  into  all  that  land. 

27  And  when  Jesus  departed  thence,  two  blind  men  followed 
him,  crying,  and  saying,  Thou  son  of  David,  have  mercy  on 

28  us.  And  when  he  was  come  into  the  house,  the  blind  men 
came  to  him,  and  Jesus  saitli  unto  them.  Believe  ye  that  1  am 

29  able  to  do  this  ?  They  said  unto  him.  Yea,  Lord.  Then 
touched  he  their  eyes,  saying,  According  to  your  faith  be  it 

30  unto  you.     And  their  eyes  were  opened.     And  Jesus  straitly 

31  charged  them,  saying.  See  that  no  man  know  it.  But  they, 
when  they  were  departed,  spread  abroad  his  fame  in  all  that 
country. 

32  As  they  went  out,  behold,  they  brought  to  him  a  dumb  man, 

33  possessed  with  a  devil.  And  w^hen  the  devil  was  cast  out,  the 
dumb  spake.     And  the  multitudes  marvelled,  saying,  It  was 

34  never  so  seen  in  Israel.  But  the  Pharisees  said,  he  casteth  out 
devils  through  the  prince  of  the  devils. 

35  And  Jesus  went  about  all  the  cities  and  villages,  teaching 


whom  Christ  restored  to  life,  since 
he  was  a  ruler  of  the  synagogue, 
must  have  been  a  person  of  some 
rank  among  his  countrymen," 
24.  And  they  laughed  him  to 
scorn]  A  most  vivid  contrast,  — 
these  hired  mourners  scornfully 
laughing  at  him  who  had  interrupt- 
ed their  noisy  demonstrations  of 
grief ;  and  Jesus,  with  serene  be- 
nignity, going  in,  taken  the  little 
maiden  by  the  hand,  and  calling  to 
her  to  arise  from  the  sleep  of  death. 
27.  Thou  son  of  David] 
It  is  a  little  remarkable  that  this  ex- 
pression should  be  used  in  each  of 
the  three  cases  of  healing  the  blind 
Avhich  are  mentioned  by  Matthew 
(xii.  23;  XX.  30).  "  have 

mercy  on  us]  A  confession  of 
misery  and  a  cry  for  mercy,  which 
has  become  a  part  of  the  solemn 
and  atfecting  litany  for  all  suffer- 
itig  and  penitent  soids.  'EXeT^o-oi/, 
eleeison,  has  been  transplanted  by 
music  and  poetry  into  the  devotions 
of  all  languages.'  ( See  Longfellow's 
16 


Blind  Bartimeus.  30.  Jesus 

charged  them  on  pain  of  liis  dis- 
plcasiue,  saying,  "  See  that  no  man 
know  it."  "  Whv  the  prohibition 
here,  when  he  had  already  com- 
manded the  Gadarene  demoniac 
(Mark  v.  19)  to  go  home  to  his 
friends  and  tell  them  how  great 
things  the  Lord  had  done  for  them? 
That  was  on  the  east  side,  near  the 
farther  end  of  the  lake,  m  a  remote 
place  which  Jesus  never  probably 
visited  except  at  that  time.  The 
report  there  of  what  he  had  done 
could  therefore  cause  him  no  incon- 
venience. Besides  the  ditierent 
characters  of  the  men  may  have 
been  such  that  the  Gadarene  would 
advance  his  cause,  and  the  others 
bring  discredit  upon  it,  by  being  its 
advocates.  The  condvxct  of  the  two 
men,  who  when  they  had  received 
their  sight  did  the  opposite  of  what 
he  had  strictly  commanded  them, 
shows  that  they  were  not  men  to 
be   depended  upon  34. 

prince  of  the  devils]     (See  xii. 


182 


MATTHEW    IX. 


in  their  synagogues,  and  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom, 
and  healing  every  sickness  and  every  disease  among  the  peo- 
ple.    But  when  he  saw  the  multitudes,  he  was  moved  with  36 
compassion  on  them,  because  they  fainted,  and  were  scattered 
abroad,  as  sheep  having  no  shepherd.     Then  saith  he  unto  his  37 
disciples,  The  harvest  truly  is  plenteous,  but  the  laborers  are 
few.     Pray  ye  therefore  the  Lord  of  the  harvest,  that  he  will  38 
send  forth  laborers  into  his  harvest. 


24).  35.  and  healings 

every  sickness]  Every  kind  of 
sickness  and  disease. 
36.  fainted]  Tischendorf  substi- 
tutes for  this  word  anotlier  which  is 
still  more  significant,  cVicuX/xeVoi, 
worried,  harassed,  torn  in  pieces, 
distracted,  for  want  of  true  and  com- 
petent guides.  How  toucliing  a 
picture  do  these  verses  (35  -  38)  give 
of  the  extent  of  our  Saviour's  labors 
and  the  intensity  of  liis  sympathy 
for  the  multitudes  whom  he  saw 
worried  and  scattered  abroad  like 


sheep  without  a  shepherd!  The 
harvest  truly  is  plenteous,  but  the 
laborers  are  "few,  &c.  No  one  takes 
these  words  in  a  literal  sense;  and 
no  one  can  fail  to  recognize  some- 
thing of  their  exquisite  beauty  in 
our  English  version,  which  adniira- 
bly  preserves,  not  only  the  meaning, 
but  almost  exactlv  tlie  musical 
rhythm  of  the  Greek.  With  such 
a  command  from  Him,  how  can  we 
help  praying  the  Lord  of  the  harvest 
that  lie  will  send  forth  laborers  into 
his  harvest? 


MATTHEW    X.    5-15.  183 


CHAPTER    X. 

5-22. — Directions  to  the  Apostles. 

Jesus  here  gives  his  disciples  specific  directions  for  their 
conduct  during  the  present  journey ;  though  even  these 
directions  are  marked  by  a  wisdom  which  belongs  to  all 
times. 

5  —  15.  He  directs  them  to  confine  their  ministry  to  the 
lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel.  This  was  not  owing 
to  a  Jewish  prejujiice  on  the  part  of  Jesus.  The  disciples 
were  now  entirely  inexperienced.  They  were  not  yet 
educated  and  prepared  to  go  forth  to  evangelize  the  world. 
They  must  not  yet  go  out  beyond  the  reach  of  their  Mas- 
ter. The  object  now,  as  Chrysostom  suggests,  was  not 
so  much  to  make  converts,  though  that  also  was  a  part 
of  his  plan,  as  to  train  and  exercise  and  educate  the 
disciples  within  the  narrow  limits  of  Palestine,  as  in  a 
school,  that,  when  the  time  should  come,  they  might  be 
prepared  for  the  larger  work  that  was  before  them.  Be- 
sides, it  was  important  to  have  a  nucleus  somewhere.  And 
where  could  it  be  so  well  as  among  the  people,  who,  during 
so  many  centuries  under  Moses  and  the  prophets,  and  more 
recently  from  the  preaching  of  John  the  Baptist,  had  been 
in  training  for  the  dispensation  which  was  now  at  hand  ? 
The  disciples  were  to  go  forth  not  to  proclaim  Jesus  as 
the  Messiah.  The  time  for  that  had  not  yet  come.  They 
were  to  complete  the  work  which  John  had  begun,  of 
preparing  the  popular  mind  for  his  advent,  by  proclaim- 
ing as  his  heralds  or  preachers  that  the  kingdom  of  the 
heavens  was  at  hand.  And  they  were  to  give  weight 
to  their  message  by  the  miracles  which  they  wrought  in 
the  name  of  their  Master. 


184  MATTHEW    X.    16-20. 

They  are  to  receive  nothing  for  the  cures  they  may 
effect.  As  the  gift,  8,  is  one  freely  bestowed  on  them, 
so  are  they  to  exercise  it  without  reward.  But  as  they  go 
forth  thus  endowed  with  power  from  on  high,  so,  9,  10, 
they  are  not  to  burden  themselves  with  any  provisions 
for  their  journey.  No  money,  no  wallet  (scrip),  no  extra 
garments  or  shoes  or  staves  are  to  be  purchased  so  as 
to  encumber  them  in  their  movements.  Kor  were  they, 
on  entering  a  village,  to  go  about  from  house  to  house. 
Where,  10,  they  found  one  worthy  and  willing  to  receive 
them,  with  him  they  were  to  stay  till  their  ministry  in 
that  village  was  ended.  They,  12,  13,  were  not  to  be 
unmindful  of  the  courtesies  due  to  those  who  should  re- 
ceive them.  If  the  house  were  worthy,  their  peaceful 
salutation  would  rest  upon  it;  and  if  the  house  were  not 
worthy,  no  harm  would  be  done ;  the  blessing  which 
they  had  bestowed  upon  it  would  return  in  peace  to  their 
own  bosom.  They  were  not  to  waste  their  time  and 
gifts  on  those,  14,  who  would  not  receive  them;  but  by 
the  symbolic  act  of  shaking  the  very  dust  from  their  feet 
were  to  show  that  they  regarded  them  as  heathen  and 
aliens.  But  a  heavy  retribution  would  fall  on  the  city 
which  should  reject  them.  Not  even  Sodom  and  Gomorrah, 
which  had  refused  to  listen  to  Lot  and  Abraham,  had  been 
given  over  to  so  terrible  a  destruction  in  their  day  of  retri- 
bution, as  at  length,  in  its  day  of  judgment  and  condem- 
nation, w^ould  fall  on  that  city. 

16-20.  In  the  16th  verse,  it  has  been  thought,  Jesus 
rises  from  specific  directions  for  the  j^resent  journey  to 
considerations  which  apply  to  them  and  those  who  shall 
come  after  them  in  future  ministrations.  "  Behold  /  send 
you,"  —  the  /  emphatic,  as  if  to  inspire  and  strengthen 
them  by  the  thought  who  it  is  that  sends  them  forth 
as  lambs  in  the  midst  of  wolves.  He  dwells  upon  the 
dangers  that  he  before  them,  and  points  out  distinctly 
what   they    are,  partly  to   put    them    on   their  guard    and 


MATTHEW    X.    16  -  20.  185 

make  tliem  feel  how  circumspect  and  unoffending  they 
must  be,  and  partly,  that,  when  the  trials  should  come, 
they,  remembering  how  he  had  foretold  them,  should  not 
be  cast  down  and  disheartened  by  them.  "  Beware  of 
men,"  he  says,  "for  they  will  deliver  you  up,  or  betray 
you  to  councils,  or  Jewish  courts  of  justice  in  provincial 
towns,  and  they  will  scourge  you  in  their  synagogues,  and  ye 
shall  be  brought  before  governors  (the  Roman  pro-consuls, 
like  Pilate)  and  kings  (tetrarchs  or  viceroys,  ruling  as 
kings  under  the  Roman  government,  like  Philip  and  Herod) 
for  a  testimony  or  witness  (iiaprvpcov)  to  (not  against)  them 
and  the  nations  or  Gentiles,"  as  they  were  in  their  time, 
and  as  Christian  martyrs  in  all  subsequent  times  have 
been. 

But  here,  lest. from  these  warnings  they  should  carry 
their  prudence  and  precautions  too  far,  he,  v.  19,  reminds 
them  of  the  opposite  dangers,  and  tells  them  to  make 
no  anxious  preparation  as  to  how  or  what  they  should 
say  when  arraigned.  It  is  as  if  he  had  said,  "  Be  wise 
and  unoffending.  Go  forth  in  thoughtful  simplicity  and 
faith,  as  my  disciples,  as  the  agents  and  messengers  of 
God.  And  then,  when  perils  come,  better  than  any  labored 
forethought  or  preparation  of  yours,  it  shall  be  given  you 
in  that  very  hour  what  ye  shall  speak."  "  A  new  spirit," 
says  Mr.  Norton,  "  was  to  be  breathed  into  them.  God 
would  elevate  their  souls,   and  would  inform  their  minds 

with   religious    truth With    this    confidence,    this 

knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  this  moral  elevation,  what 
they  should  speak  would  always  be  given  them ;  the  spirit 
of  their  Father  would  speak  in  them."  "  It  is  to  be  ob- 
served," says  Alford,  "that,  in  the  great  work  of  God 
in  the  world,  human  individuality  sinks  down  and  vanishes, 
and  God  alone,  his  Christ,  his  Spirit,  is  the  great  worker." 
Does  not  the  promise  apply  to  all  times,  and  does  it  not 
rebuke  the  unbelief  and  hesitating  fidelity  of  those  who, 
in  seeking  to  advance  the  highest  interests  of  man,  trust 
16* 


186  MATTHEW    X.    21,    22. 

only  to  their  own  wisdom  and  strength?  And  does  not 
this  vanishing  away  of  the  human  individuahty  in  Christ, 
by  his  entire  surrender  of  himself  to  the  Divine  will,  show 
in  what  sense  he  and  his  Father  were  one? 

21,  22.  Having  thus  confirmed  their  faith,  Jesus  places 
before  them  a  yet  darker  picture  of  impending  dangers. 
Members  of  the  same  household  shall  be  divided  in  deadly 
hostility  against  one  another.  And  not  only  in  your  own 
homes,  he  goes  on  to  say,  but  everywhere,  ye  shall  be 
hated  of  all  men  on  my  account.  But  he  who  endureth 
to  the  end  shall  be  saved.  He  who  endureth  as  the 
early  martyrs  Stephen  and  James  did,  to  the  end  of  life, 
shall  be  saved.  In  this  sense  it  applies  to  the  faithful 
of  all  times  and  places.  But  as  in  the  previous  verses 
especial  notice  is  given  of  the  domestic  feuds  which  should 
precede  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  dividing  the  inmates 
of  the  same  household  in  mortal  enmity  against  one  an- 
other, and  turning  the  common  hatred  of  the  Jews  with 
peculiar  fierceness  against  the  Christians,  "  the  end "  here 
in  its  primary  application  probably  denotes  the  end  of 
the  Jewish  polity,  which  may  be  said  to  have  terminated 
with  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus,  the  Roman 
general,  A.  D.  70.  For  at  that  time  the  political  existence 
of  the  Jews  was  blotted  out,  and  their  national  religious 
observances,  "the  sacrifice  and  the  oblation"  (Daniel  ix. 
27)  ceased.  In  this  sense  the  deliverance  here  announced, 
V.  22,  refers  to  the  freedom  which  the  Christians  should 
then  enjoy  from  the  persecutions  to  which  they  had  been 
so  cruelly  subjected  by  the  Jews,  and  of  which  some  in- 
stances are  given  in  the  Book  of  Acts. 

23.  —  The  Coming  of  the  Son  of  Man. 

"  Till  the  Son  of  Man  come."  This  expression  probably 
means  the  same  here  as  "the  end"  in  the  previous  verse. 
"  Till  his  religion  is  established  and  fully  confirmed,"  says 


MATTHEW    X.    23.  187 

Mr.  Norton.  The  words  are  used  by  Jesus  and  the  Evan- 
gehsts  with  entirely  different  meanings  at  different  times. 
Matthew  (xi.  19,  "The  Son  of  Man  came  eating  and 
drinking,")  speaks  of  him  in  the  ministry  in  which  he  was 
then  engaged.  So  (xviii.  11),  "For  the  Son  of  Man  is 
come  to  save  that  which  was  lost."  On  the  other  hand, 
in  xvi.  27,  xxiv.  30,  xxv.  31,  When  the  Son  of  Man 
shall  come  "  in  the  glory  of  his  Father  with  his  angels,'* 
"  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with  power  and  great  glory," 
"  in  his  ^lory,  and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him,"  the 
expression  evidently  reaches  on  to  some  future,  and,  in 
one  case  (xvi.  27,  28),  not  far  distant  event.  For  it  is 
there  distinctly  and  emphatically  asserted  by  Jesus,  that 
there  were  those  then  standing  by  him  who  should  not 
taste  of  death  till  they  had  seen  him  coming  in  his  king- 
dom. What  is  meant  by  this  coming  which  was  then 
so  near  at  hand  ?  Primarily  it  meant  the  establishment 
of  Christ's  religion  consequent  upon  the  removal  of  the 
Jewish  polity  at  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  But  may 
it  not  also  be,  that  he  used  language  which,  while  fore- 
shadowing the  establishment  of  his  religion  on  earth,  should 
also,  under  the  most  solemn  figures  of  speech,  set  forth 
the  more  thorough  and  decisive  establishment  of  its  princi- 
ples in  their  retributive  application  to  every  soul  that  goes 
out  from  its  mortality  to  meet  him  in  his  glory  ?  "  Through- 
out this  discourse,"  says  Alford,  "  and  the  great  prophecy 
in  chap,  xxiv.,  we  find  the  first  Apostolic  period  used 
as  a  type  of  the  whole  ages  of  the  Church,  —  and  the 
vengeance  on  Jerusalem,  —  which  historically  put  an  end 
to  the  old  dispensation,  and  was  in  its  place  with  refer- 
ence to  that  order  of  things,  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
Man,  as  a  type  of  the  final  coming  of  the  Lord.  These 
two  subjects  accompany  and  interpenetrate  one  another 
in  a  manner  wholly  inexplicable  to  those  who  are  un- 
accustomed to  the  wide  import  of  Scripture  prophecy, 
which  speaks  very  generally,  not  so  much  of  events  them- 


188  MATTHEW    X.    24-38. 

selves,  points  of  tiine,  —  as  of  processions  of  events,  all  rang- 
ing under  one  great  description.  Thus  in  the  present  case 
there  is  certainly  direct  reference  to  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem;  the  "end"  directly  spoken  of '  is  that  event, 
and  the  "  shall  be  saved "  the  preservation  provided  by 
the  warning  afterwards  given  in  chap.  xxiv.  15-18.  And 
the  next  verse  directly  refers  to  the  journeys  of  the  Apos- 
tles over  the  actual  cities  of  Israel,  territorial,  or  Avhere 
Jews  were  located.  But  as  certainly  do  all  these  ex- 
pressions, look  onwards  to  the  great  final  coming  of  the 
Lord,  the  "  end  "  of  all  prophecy  ;  as  certainly  the  "  shall 
be  saved  "  here  bears  its  full  Scripture  meaning,  of  ever- 
lasting salvation ;  and  the  endurance  to  the  end  is  the 
finished  course  of  the  Christian,  and  the  precept  in  the 
next  verse  is  to  apply  to  the  conduct  of  Christians  of  all 
ages  with  reference  to  persecution,  and  the  announce- 
ment that  hardly  will  the  Gospel  have  been  fully  preached 
to  all  nations  (or,  to  all  the  Jewish  nation,  i.  e.  effectually) 
when  the  Son  of  Man  shall  come.  It  is  most  important 
to  keep  in  mind  the  great  prophetic  parallels,  which  run 
through  our  Lord's  discourses,  and  are  sometimes  sepa- 
rately, sometimes  simultaneously,  presented  to  us  by  him." 

24  -  38.  —  Further  Directions  to  the  Apostles. 

If  the  most  contemptuous  of  names,  v.  25,  is  given  to 
the  lord  of  the  house,  how  much  more  will  it  be  given 
to  those  Avho,  as  his  inferiors,  belong  to  his  house.  The 
scholar  must  be  satisfied  if  he  is  treated  as  well  as  his 
teacher  ;  the  servant,  if  he  is  treated  as  well  as  his  master ; 
But  fear  them  not,  v.  26.  The  time  of  darkness  cannot 
last.  The  real  condition  of  things,  and  with  it  the  nature 
of  your  mission  and  of  the  truths  you  teach,  will  be  brought- 
to  light.  "  Why,"  says  Chrysostom  in  his  paraphrase,  "  do 
ye  grieve  ?  Because  they  call  you  impostors  and  deceivers  ? 
Wait  a  little,  and  all  men  w^ill  declare   you   saviours  and 


MATTHEW   X.   24-38.  189 

benefactors  of  the  world."  Proclaim,  then,  in  the  light 
and  from  the  house-tops  Avhat  I  have  told  you  in  our 
obscurity  and  in  secret.  Fear  not  them  who  can  kill  only 
the  body,  and  have  no  power  over  the  soul,  but  rather 
fear  him  who  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  Gehen- 
na. We  can  see  no  reason  to  believe,  with  some  modern 
critics,  as  Olshausen  and  Stier,  that  Satan  or  Beelzebub 
is  the  one  whom  the  disciples  are  directed  to  fear.  It  is 
not  Satan,  but  God  alone,  Avho  has  the  power  which  is 
here  held  up  as  the  cause  of  dread.  Yet  not  alone  by 
images  like  this  of  his  power  to  destroy  body  and  soul 
alike  is  their  reverence  for  him  to  be  strenirthened.  Calling: 
their  attention  to  the  little  birds  around  them,  of  which 
two  were  sold  for  an  assarion,  or  half  a  cent,  Jesus  tells 
them  that  not  even  one  of  these  should  fall  upon  the  ground 
unnoticed  by  their  Father.  [The  sparrows,  according  to 
a  recent  traveller,  Hackett,  p.  86,  are  still  numerous  in 
Palestine,  and  are  sometimes  sold  for  food.]  Why  then 
shall  they  who  are  of  so  much  more  value  than  many  spar- 
rows, and  the  hairs  of  whose  head  are  all  numbered, — 
why  shall  they  distrust  the  Providential  care  of  God, 
or  fear  what  man  can  do  to  them  ?  In  v.  32,  by  a  con- 
nection so  natural  that  it  is  hardly  noticed,  Jesus  rises 
from  actions  here  to  their  consequences  in  higher  worlds; 
and,  in  order  to  confirm  his  disciples  in  their  fidehty  to 
him,  he  emphatically  declares  that  they  who  confess  or 
deny  him  before  men,  will  be  confessed  or  denied  by  him 
before  his  Father  in  the  heavens. 

Still  he  wishes  them  (34  -  39)  to  understand  fully  what 
their  trials  and  their  sacrifices  here  must  be.  "  I  come,  not 
to  send  peace,  but  a  sword."  Here,  as  in  other  passages 
of  Scripture,  the  consequences  of  an  action  are  mentioned 
as  if  they  were  the  intended  results.  In  Exodus  iv.  21 
God  says  of  Pharaoh,  "I  will  harden  his  heart,  that  he 
shall  not  let  the  people  go,"  i.  e.  the  effect  of  all  these 
fearful  exhibitions  of  the  Divine  power   will   be   only   to 


190  MATTHEW   X.    24-38. 

harden  his  heart  and  confirm  him  in  his  wicked  purposes. 
In  1  Kings  xxii.  19-23,  God  is  represented  as  putting 
a  lying  spirit  into  the  mouth  of  the  king's  prophets  ;  i.  e. 
as  they  were  all  wicked  and  deceitful  men,  he  allowed 
them  to  be  deceived  and  misled  by  the  lying  spirit  which 
they  sought.  So  in  the  passage  before  us,  one  of  the 
consequences  of  Christ's  coming  is  put  as  if  it  were  a 
part  at  least  of  his  design  in  coming  into  the  world  to 
effect  it.  The  connection  is  this.  Notwithstanding  that 
God  suffers  not  a  sparrow  to  fall  unnoticed,  and  every 
one  of  you  who  confess  me  on  earth  shall  be  recog- 
nized and  accepted  by  me  in  heaven,  still,  you  are  not 
to  expect  that  I  shall  quiet  at  once  the  warring  elements 
of  the  w^orld.  On  the  contrary,  I  shall  introduce  a  new 
cause  of  hostility,  and  thus  send,  not  peace,  but  a  sword, 
setting  a  man  at  variance  against  his  father,  and  the 
daujT^hter  acjainst  her  mother.  This  is  the  inevitable  re- 
suit.  The  bitterest  hostility  of  their  friends  will  be  roused 
against  the  disciples  because  of  their  allegiance  to  him. 
And  here,  37,  is  to  be  a  new  test  of  their  fidelity.  In 
the  contests  w^hich  are  to  come  up  they  must  decide  which 
they  will  choose,  him  or  their  friends ;  and  he  that  loveth 
father  or  mother,  son  or  daughter,  more  than  him,  and 
who,  besides  that,  is  not  willing  even  to  take  up  his  cross 
and  follow  him,  giving  up  friends  and  life  for  his  sake, 
is  not  worthy  of  him.  That  is,  they  must  be  ready  to 
give  up  and  to  endure  everything  in  his  service. 

This  w^as  the  primary  idea,  and  probably  the  only  one 
that  impressed  the  disciples  at  the  time.  But  the  cross 
was  not  a  Jewish  instrument  of  punishment,  and  there- 
fore would  not  naturally  sug2;est  to  the  Jewish  mind  the 
imagery  by  which  it  would  describe  the  extreme  degra- 
dation and  sufferings  of  a  cruel  and  infamous  death.  It 
is  probable  that  Jesus  employed  this  then  unusual  form 
of  expression,  not  only  to  convey  the  idea  of  the  per- 
sonal sacrifices  which   his    followers   must   make   for    his 


MATTHEW   X.    39.  191 

sake,  but  also  to  familiarize  their  minds  beforehand  with 
the  terrible  images  of  torture  and  death  which  he  was  to 
meet.  Here,  as  in  other  places  (Matthew  xvi.  24,  John 
iii.  14,  viii.  28,  xii.  32),  though  they  did  not  fully  under- 
stand him  at  the  time,  the  cross  threw  its  darkening  shadow 
before  them,  and  he  was  thus  preparing  their  minds,  un- 
consciously to  themselves,  that  when  he  had  been  crucified, 
and  had  risen  from  the  dead,  these  words,  which  at  first 
had  awakened  only  vague  and  unintelligible  forebodings, 
should  stand  out  in  their  prophetic  character,  as  pointing 
all  to  the  same  result. 


39.  —  Life  or  Soul. 

He  who  findeth,  i.  e.  who  seeketh  to  find,  his  life,  shall 
lose  it;  and  he  who  loseth,  i.  e.  who  is  Avilling  to  lose  it, 
shall  find  it.  Here  is  another  instance,  in  which  Jesus, 
whose  soul  was  full  of  thoughts  which  the  earthly  language 
that  he  spoke  had  no  terms  to  express,  used  the  same  word 
to  express  very  different  meanings.  At  least  the  Evange- 
lists so  represent  him.  The  word  V'^X^j  which  is  here 
rendered  life,  like  nuevna,  and  the  Latin  words  anima  and 
spiritus,  as  well  as  the  corresponding  Hebrew  words  K/^A 
and  n^'^,  means  primarily  breath  or  air.  It  is  used  in  the 
New  Testament :  1.  For  the  animal  life,  common  to  beasts 
and  men  (Matthew  ii.  20,  vi.  25,  xx,  28).  2.  It  stands 
for  the  rational  as  well  as  sensitive,  animating  principle,  — 
a  something,  it  has  been  thought,  between  the  animal  and 
spiritual  principle  of  life.  "  The  first  man  Adam  was  made 
a  living  soul,"  psyche,  in  contradistinction  to  the  second 
Adam,  who  was  a  life-making  spirit,  pneuma.  3.  It  is 
used  as  nearly  synonymous  with  our  word  soul.  "  Thou 
wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in  Hades."  (Acts  ii.  27.)  "I  saw 
under  the  altar  the  souls  of  them  that  Avere  slain  for  the 
word  of  God."  (Rev.  vi.  9  ;  see  also  Rev.  xx.  4 ;  1  Peter 
iv.  19  ;  Matt.  x.  29.)     It  naturally  bears  all  these  meanings ; 


192  MATTHEW    X.    39. 

for  Strictly  speaking,  the  word  yj^vxr}  stands  for  the  vital,  sen- 
tient principle  in  which  our  consciousness  resides,  and  with 
it  our  sense  of  personal  identity.  It  is  that  which  con- 
stitutes a  man's  self,  and  might  better  be  translated  by  the 
word  self  than  by  any  other  single  word  in  our  language. 
It  is  the  sentient,  conscious  principle  which  pervades  our 
whole  being,  animal,  intellectual,  and  spiritual,  and  which 
may  be  considered  in  its  relation  to  either  one,  or  to  all,  of 
these  departments  of  our  nature.  It  may,  therefore,  refer 
to  our  physical,  our  intellectual,  or  our  spiritual  life.  In 
V.  20  of  this  chapter  Jesus  uses  it  as  we  do  the  word  soul, 
as  something  distinct  from  our  physical  life.  In  v.  39,  he 
passes  from  one  meaning  to  the  other ;  and  the  better  trans- 
lation would  be  :  He  who  findeth,  or  (John  xii.  25)  loveth 
himself,  shall  be  lost,  and  he  who  loseth  himself  shall  be 
saved.  That  is :  He  who  is  bound  up  in  himself  shall 
perish  ;  but  he  who,  in  his  devotion  to  me,  is  willingly  ex- 
posing himself  to  death,  as  if  (John  xii.  25)  he  hated  himself, 
shall  hve.  The  expression  goes  deeper  than  is  intimated  in 
our  common  version.  There  may  be  a  selfish  regard  to  our 
souls  and  spiritual  interests,  as  well  as  to  our  earthly  life  and 
bodily  interests.  The  Saviour's  words  are  directed  against 
every  form  of  selfishness  and  self-seeking,  whether  in  rela- 
tion to  body  or  soul,  to  this  world  or  the  world  to  come. 
"Whosoever  seeketh  first  himself,  though  it  be  his  own  soul, 
shall  perish  ;  and  he  who  is  willing  to  cast  away  everything, 
even  his  care  for  his  own  soul,  in  his  devotion  to*  me,  shall 
be  saved.  He  who  is  saving  his  soul  in  this  selfish  way 
shall  lose  it ;  and  he  who  is  losing  his  soul,  in  this  unselfish 
devotedness  to  me,  shall  save  it.  At  the  same  time  the  con- 
nection with  the  cross  of  v.  38  implies  that  there  is  a 
reference  here  to  the  loss  of  life,  in  our  sense  of  the  word 
life  ;  and  so  there  is  a  passing  from  the  lower  to  the  higher 
meaning  of  the  word,  from  the  mortal  to  the  immortal  life, 
and  the  verse  may  be  thus  paraphrased,  "  AYhosoever  seeks 
first  of  all  his  life  (an  earthly  one),  shall  lose  it  (as  an  im- 


MATTHEW   X.    40-42.  193 

mortal  inheritance)  ;  and  he  who  (in  his  supreme  devotion 
to  higher  things)  is  ready  to  cast  his  Hfe  (his  earthly  life) 
away,  shall  find  it  (as  an  immortal  inheritance). 

This  practice  of  so  using  language  that  it  shall  reach 
from  its  primary  and  narrow  meaning,  spiritually  up  into 
higher  realms  of  life,  or  prophetically  on  to  more  distant 
scenes  and  events,  is  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  the  commentator,  who  would  give  a  precise  and 
definite  meaning,  and  only  one,  to  every  expression  that 
he  meets.  The  charm,  as  well  as  much  of  the  power  that 
lies  in  the  words  of  Jesus,  consists  in  the  fact  that  they 
open  before  us  Avorlds  of  thought  and  being  into  which  we 
may  enter,  but  which  are  too  full  to  be  emptied  of  all  their 
treasures,  and  too  vast  to  be  bounded  by  any  exact  defini- 
tions of  ours. 

40-42.  —  Different  Degrees  of  Reward. 

And  while  men  may  thus  save  or  lose  their  souls,  there 
are  different  degrees  of  recompense,  and  not  the  smallest 
act  shall  be  permitted  to  go  unrewarded.  To  receive 
the  Apostles  is,  of  course,  not  merely  to  give  them  a 
hospitable  reception,  kindly  supplying  them  with  food  and 
shelter ;  it  is  to  receive  them  with  their  instructions  into 
the  heart  and  life.  In  so  doing  men  receive  Christ,  who 
is  represented  by  them,  and  whose  life-giving  doctrines 
they  teach  ;  nay,  they  receive  God  himself  The  reward 
would  depend  on  the  kind  of  reception  that  was  given. 
He  who  is  far  enough  advanced  in  the  Jewish  religion 
to  recognize  and  welcome  a  prophet  or  righteous  man 
as  such,  because  he  is  a  prophet  or  a  righteous  man,  shall 
receive  the  reward  of  a  prophet  or  righteous  man.  In 
receiving  him  as  a  prophet,  he  is  made  partaker  of  the 
prophet's  thought  and  life,  and  of  course  will  share  the 
prophet's  reward.  But  he  who  has  enough  of  the  spirit 
of  Christ  to  receive  a  little  child  as  his  disciple  or  repre- 
17 


l'J4  MATTHKAV   X. 

sentative,  shall  in  no  wise  lose  a  disciple's  reward,  for 
in  so  doing  he  is  receiving  the  spirit  and  the  life  of 
Jesus  into  himself.  Perhaps  there  were  children  present. 
The  term  "little  ones"  is  applied  by  Jesus  to  children 
(xviii.  2-6).  Or  it  may  be,  as  Mr.  Norton  and  others 
suppose,  that  by  "  little  ones "  Jesus  means  his  own  in- 
experienced disciples ;  as  if  he  had  said,  "  whosoever  shall 
give  a  cup  of  cold  water  to  one  of  these,  my  children,"  &c. 
In  either  case  the  fundamental  meaning  is  the  same.  There 
is  a  climax  from  the  prophet,  who,  though  a  special  messen- 
ger of  God,  was  sometimes  meagre  in  spiritual  attainments, 
through  the  just  man  in  his  legal  righteousness  to  the 
disciple  in  whom,  as  coming  from  Christ,  is  the  fulness 
of  a  diviner  life  and  through  it  of  a  larger  reward.  "  Many 
a  benevolent,  pious  Jew,"  says  Olshausen,  "might  receive 
the  Apostles  as  prophets  or  righteous  men,  because,  from 
his  point  of  view,  he  could  not  recognize  anything  higher 
in  them  ;  but  he  who  was  able  to  recognize  in  the  messen- 
gers of  Christ  that  specifically  new  thing  which  they  brought, 
and  who,  from  love  to  it,  would  receive  them,  received  the 
full  blessing  from  Him."  The  prominent  idea  in  these 
sentences  relates  to  the  different  kinds  and  degrees  of  re- 
ward which  men  shall  receive  according  to  their  different 
attainments  in  the  Jewish  or  the  Christian  life. 


NOTES. 

And  when  he  had  called  unto  him  his  twelve  disciples,  he 
gave  them  power  against  unclean  spirits,  to  cast  them  out,  and 
to  heal  all  manner  of  sickness,  and  all  manner  of  disease. 

1-4.  We  have  four  different  cata-  ferent  accounts  may  be  easily  coni- 

loc;Ties  of  the  Apostles,  viz.  :  Matt,  pared,  we   subjoin     the    following 

x.'9-4;  ]\I:\rk  iii.  16-19;  Luke  vi.  table:  — 
14 -IG;  Acts  i.  13.     That  the  dif- 


MATTHEW    X. 


195 


2  Now  the  names  of  the  twelve  apostles  are  these :  the  first, 
Simou,  who  is  called  Peter,  and  Andrew  his  brother;  James 

3  the  son  of  Zebedee,  and  John  his  brother ;  Philip  and  Bar- 
tholomew ;  Thomas,  and  Matthew  the  publican ;  James  the 
son  of  Alpheus,  and  Lebbeus,  whose  surname  was  Thaddeus ; 

4  Simon  tlie  Canaanite,  and  Judas  Iscariot,  who  also  betrayed 


MATTUEW. 

Simon 
A  lid  row 
James 
John 

Philip 

Biirtholomew 

Thomas 

Muttlie\r 

James  of  Alpheus 
Leiibeus 

Si.iiou  Cananaios 
J  u Jus  Iscariot 


MARK. 

Peter 
James 
John 
Andrew 

Philip 

B.irtholomew 

Matthew 

Thomas 

James  of  Alpheus 
Thaddeus 
Simon  Cananaios 
Judas  Iscariot 


hi  .ill  these  catalogues  the  names 
may  naturally  be  divided  into  three 
fhisses.  In  the  first  two  classes 
the  names  in  the  different  accounts 
are  the  same;  and  in  tlie  third  class 
there  is  no  difference  of  statement 
in  rejjard  to  the  first  name  and 
the  last.  Simon  Cananaios  is  only 
the  Hebrew  name  correspondino;  to 
Simon  Zelotes,  in  Greek.  Probably 
before  being;  called  by  Jesus,  he  Avas 
a  member  of  the  sect  called  Zealots, 
who,  according  to  Josephus  (B.  J.  4. 
3.  9 ;  ib.  4.  5. 1  -  4 ;  ib.  4.6.3;  and  7. 
8.1),  were  guilty  of  the  greatest 
excesses  and  crimes  a  short  time 
before  the  destruction  of  .Jerusalem. 
The  only  name  about  Avhich  there 
is  any  difficulty  is  that  of  Lebbeus, 
or  Tiiaddeus,  or  Judas  [the  son  or 
brother]  of  James.  "  Thaddeus," 
says  Lightfoot,  "  is  a  warping  of 
the  name  '  Judas,'  that  this  apostle 
might  be  the  better  distinguished 
from  Iscariot."  Like  Elijah  and 
Klias,  they  were  only  different  forms 
of  the  same  name'.  In  John  xIa*.  22 
we  find  a  "Judas,"  not  "  Iscariot," 
among  the  Apostles.  Lebbeus  and 
Thaddeus  have  been  supposed  to 
mean  the  same  thing;  but,  accord- 
ing to  De  Wette  and  Alford,  this 
view  is  not  sustained  by  the  ety- 
mok)gy  of  the  words.  I'he  proba- 
bility is  that  Lebbeus  was  a  sur- 


ACTS. 
Peter 
James 
John 
Andrew 

Philip 
Thomas 
Bartholomew 
Matthew 

James  of  Alpheus 
Simon  Zelotes 
Judas  of  James 


LUKE. 

Simon 
Andrew 
James 
John 

Philip 

Bartholomew 
Matthew 
Thomas 

James  of  Alpheus 
Simon  Zelotes 
Judas  of  James 
Judas  Iscariot 


name,  borrowed  possibly,  as  Light- 
foot  conjectures,  from  his  place"  of 
residence,  and  given  to  him,  as  the 
name  Iscariot  was  given  to  the  other 
Judas,  from  his  place  of  residence, 
to  distinguish  them  from  one  an- 
other. "  Whose  surname  Avas  Thad- 
deus," the  reading  of  our  common 
version  is  marked  as  doubtful  by 
Griesbach,  and  omitted  by  Tischen- 
dorf.  If  Ave  kncAv  nothing  about 
Simon's  name,  beyond  Avhat  Ave  find 
liere,  Ave  should  think  there  was  a 
contradiction  in  the  accounts,  Mark, 
and  the  author  of  the  Acts  saying 
Peter,  A\diere  i\hxttheAV  and  Luke  say 
Simon.  Simon  Peter,  and  Andrew 
his  brother,  sons  of  Jonas,  and  John 
the  son  of  Zebedee,  Avith  James  liis 
brother,  Avere  (Luke  v.  10)  partners 
in  the  fishing-trade,  and,  together 
Avith  Pliilip  (John  i.  44)  belonged  to 
Bethsaida.  This  .James  is  the  one  put 
to  death  by  Herod  (Acts  xii.  2).  Bar- 
tholomew is,  Avith  reason,  supposed 
to  be  the  same  as  Nathaniel,  avIio 
is  mentioned  by  John  tAvice  (i.  46; 
xxi.  2)  among  the  Apostles.  He  Avas 
from  Cana  of  Galilee.  Without  any 
good  reason,  it  has  been  conjectured 
that  Philip  and  BartholomcAV  Avere 
brothers  ;  and  that  Thomas  and 
IMatthcAV  Avere  tAvin-brothers.  The 
himiility  of  MatthcAV  has  been  in- 
fen-ed  from  his  applying  to  himself 


19G 


MATTHEW   X. 


him. These  twelve  Jesus  sent  forth,  and  commanded  them,  5 

saying,  Go  not  into  the  way  of  the  Gentiles,  and  into  any  city 
of  the  Samaritans  enter  ye  not.     But  go  rather  to  the  lost  6 
sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel.     And,  as  ye  go,  preach,  saying,   7 
The  kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at  hand.     Heal  the  sick,  cleanse  the   8 
lepers,  raise  the  dead,  cast  out  devils ;  freely  ye  have  received, 
freely  give.     Provide  neither  gold,  nor  silver,  nor  brass,  in   8 
your  purses ;    nor  scrip  for  your  journey,  neither  two  coats,  10 
neither  shoes,  nor  yet  staves.     For  the  workman  is  worthy  of 
his  meat.    And  into  whatsoever  city  or  town  ye  shall  enter,  in-  11 
(juire  who  in  it  is  worthy ;  and  there  abide  till  ye  go  thence.  And  1-2 


here  the  reproachful  epithet  "  pub- 
lican." Jame-J,  tlie  son  of  Alphaeus 
(Alphfeus  and  Cleopas  or  Clopas, 
being  only  different  ways  of  turn- 
ing the  same  Hebrew  woixl  into 
Greek),  presided  over  the  church 
at  Jerusalem,  and  "  from  the  aus- 
tere sanctity  of  his  character  Avas 
commonly  called,  both  by  Jews 
and  Christians,  "James  the  Just." 
Mention  is  made  (Matt.  xiii.  55,  and 
Gal.  i.  19)  of  James,  a  brother  or 
kinsman  of  Jesus.  ( See  note  to  xiii. 
55.)  If  Judas  of  James  is  Judas 
the  brother  of  James,  this  suppo- 
sition agrees  with  xiii.  55,  where  we 
read  of  James  and  Judas  as  among 
tlie  brethren  of  Jesus  ;  and  Avith 
Jude  1,  Avhere  we  read  of  "Judas, 
the  servant  of  .Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
brother   of  James."  3.  Mat- 

thew, the  publican]  a  collector  of 
taxes.  ]\Iatthew's  humility  is  seen 
in  his  applying  to  himself  in  his 
catalogiie  of  the  apostles  the  odious 
name,  which  no  other  Evangelist 
applies  to  him  in  this  connection. 
"  On  no  point,"  says  Milman,  Hist. 
Christ.  B.  I.  c.  IV.,'"  Avere  all  orders 
among  the  Jcavs  so  unanimous  as  in 
their  contempt  and  detestation  of 
the  publicans.  Strictly  speaking, 
the  jiersons  named  in  the  EA-ange- 
lists  were  not  publicans.  These 
were  men  of  property,  not  beloAv  the 
equestrian  order,  avIio  farmed  the 
public  revenues.  Those  in  question 
[those  mentioned  in  the  Gospels] 
Avere  the  agents  of  these  contractors, 
men,  often  freed  slaves,  or  of  low 
birth  and  station,  and  throughout 


the  Roman  Avorld  proverbial  for 
their  extortions;  and  in  Juda-a  still 
more  hateful,  as  among  the  mani- 
fest signs  of  subjugation  to  a  foreign 
dominion.  The  Jew  Avho  exercised 
the  function  of  a  publican  Avas,  as 
it  Avere,  a  traitor  to  the  national  in- 
dependence." 5.  Gentiles] 
The  nations,  —  those  Avho  are  not 
JeAvs.  Samaritans] 
Samaria  lay  between  Galilee  and 
Judaea,  and  Avas  inhabited  by  the 
Samaritans,  Avho  Avere  descended 
from  the  ten  tribes,  and  from  people 
of  heathen  nations  Avho  at  different 
times  had  been  sent  as  colonists 
Avith  them.  Their  religion  Avas 
draAvn  partly  from  the  laAV  of  ]\Ioses, 
and  partly' from  pagan  supersti- 
tions. 9.  Provide  neither 
gold]  Provide  is  the  emphatic 
Avord.  Take  no  pains  to  provide  or 
purchase  anything  for  your  joiir- 
ney;  but  go  as  you  are,  trusting  in 
God.  Purses  were  girdles  Avorn 
about  the  Avaist,  in  Avhich  money 
Avas  carried.  10.  scrip] 
a  Avallet  usually  of  leather,  in  wliith 
shepherds  and  travellers  carried  pro- 
visions, neither  shoes] 
"  but  be  shod  Avith  sandals  "  (Mark 
vi.  9).  Lightfoot  says  that  there 
Avas  a  marked  distinction  betAveea 
shoes  and  sandals,  the  former  being 
more  like  an  article  of  luxury  than 
the  latter.  nor  yet 
staves]  Do  not  take  pains  to  pro- 
vide them.  [Mark  says  Jesus  com- 
manded them  to  take  nothing  for 
their  iournev,  except  a  staff. 
11.  aiid  there  abide]     With  him 


MATTHEW   X. 


197 


13  when  ye  come  into  an  house,  salute  It.  And  If  the  house  be 
worthy,  let  your  peace  come  upon  it ;  but  if  it  be  not  wor- 

14  thy,  let  your  peace  return  to  you.  And  whosoever  shall  not 
receive  you,  nor  hear  your  words,  when  ye  depart  out  of  that 

15  house  or  city,  shake  off  the  dust  of  your  feet.  Verily  I  say 
unto  you,  it  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  in  the  day  of  judgment,  than  for  that  city. 

16  Behold,  I  send  you  forth  as  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves.     Be 

17  ye  therefore  wise  as  serpents,  and  harmless  as  doves.  But 
beware  of  men.     For  they  will  deliver  you  up  to  the  councils, 

18  and  they  will  scourge  you  in  their  synagogues ;  and  ye  shall 
be  brought  before  governors  and  kings  for  my  sake,  for  a  testi- 

19  mony  against  them  and  the  Gentiles.  But  when  they  deliver 
you  up,  take  no  thought  how  or  what  ye  shall  speak ;  for  It 

20  shall  be  given  you  in  that  same  hour  what  ye  shall  speak.  For 
it  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  spirit  of  your  Father  which 

21  speaketh  in  you.  And  the  brother  shall  deliver  up  the  brother 
to  death,  and  the  father  the  child ;  and  the  children  shall  rise 
up  against  their  parents,  and  cause  them  to  be  put  to  death ; 

22  and  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  men  for  my  name's  sake.     But  he 


who  is  worthy,  and  when  ye  come 
into  the  house  (not  an  house,  as  in 
our  translation),  i.  e.  with  him  into 
his  house,  salute  it.  Be  courteous. 
Observe  the  customary  forms  of 
salutation.  "  A  sei-vant  of  the  Lord 
is  truly  courteous,  for  he  has  learned 
to  be  so  in  the  high  court  of  his 
king."  13.  if  the  house 

be  worthy]  Hei-e  house^  passing 
from  its  meaning  in  the  previous 
verse,  is  used  as  comprehending  the 
family  who  lived  in  it. 
let  your  peace  rest  upon  it] 
pray  for  its  good,  and  if  it  be  un- 
worthy the  blessing  that  you  ask 
for,  it  will  return  into  your  own 
bosom.  Thus,  if  those  for  whom 
we  pray  do  not  allow  our  prayers 
for  their  good  to  be  answered  as  it 
regards  them,  still  we  shall  not  pray 
in  vain.  The  peace  we  ask  for 
them  will  come  to  us. 
14.  shake  off  the  dust  of  your 
feet]  The  dust  of  heathen  land 
defiled.  By  shaking  off  the  dust  of 
a  city,  the  disciples  were  to  show 
17* 


that  they  esteemed  it  heathenish, 
profane,  and  impure.  16. 

harmless  as  doves]  Not  harm- 
less, but  pwe.  The  dove,  an  em- 
blem of  the  Holy  Spirit,  stands  for 
Christian  gentleness  and  purity  of 
soul.  Let  your  wisdom,  of  which 
you  will  have  abundant  need,  never 
degenei'ate  mto  a  selfish  prudence 
or  cunning  ;  but  let  it  be  united 
with  the  purity  of  soul  which  in- 
cludes within  itself  singleness  of 
purpose  and  the  love  "  which  seek- 
eth  not  her  own,"  and  '^  which 
thinketh  no  evil."  9.  take 

no  thought]  give  yourself  no 
anxietv  about  what  you  shall  sav. 
(See  VI.  25.)  22.  for  niy 

name's  sake]  By  the  name  of 
Jesus  is  meant  the  spirit,  the  quali- 
ties, and  attributes  belonging  to 
him.  To  come  together  in  his 
name,  is  to  come  together  in  his 
spirit;  to  ask  anything  in  his  name, 
is  to  ask  it  as  in  his  stead  or  in  his 
spirit;  and  to  be  hated  for  his 
name's  sake,  is  to  be  hated  on  ac- 


198 


MATTHEW    X. 


that  cndureth  to  the  end  shall  be  saved.     But  when  they  per-  23 
sccute  you  in  this  city,  flee  ye  into  another.     For  verily  I  say 
unto  you,  ye  shall  not  have  gone  over  the  cities  of  Israel  till 
the  Son  of  Man  be  come.     The  disciple  is  not  above  his  mas-  24 
ter,  nor  the  servant  above  his  lord.     It  is  enough  for  the  disci-  25 
pie  that  he  be  as  his  master,  and  the  servant  as  his  lord.     If 
they  have  called  the  master  of  the  house  Beelzebub,  how  much 
more  shall  they  call  them  of  his  household  ?     Fear  them  not  26 
therefore.      For  there  is  nothing  covered,  that  shall  not  be 
revealed ;  and  hid,  that  shall  not  be  known.     What  I  tell  you  27 
in  darkness,  that  speak  ye  in  light ;  and  what  ye  hear  in  the 
ear,  that  preach  ye  upon  the  house-tops.     And  fear  not  them  28 
which  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul ;  but  rath- 
er fear  Him  which  is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell. 
Are  not  two  sparrows  sold  for  a  farthing  V  and  one  of  them  29 
shall  not  fall  on  the  ground  without  your  Father.     But  the  30 
very  hairs  of  your  head  are  all  numbered.     Fear  ye  not  there-  3i 
fore ;  ye  are  of  more  value  than  many  sparrows.     Whosoever  32 
therefore  shall  confess  me  before  men,  him  will  I  confess  also 
before  my  Father,  which  is  in  heaven.     But  whosoever  shall  33 
deny  me  before  men,  him  will  I  also  deny  before  my  Father, 
which  is  in  heaven.     Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  send  peace  34 


count  of  the  qualities  which  be- 
longed to  him.  "  It  is  to  be  observ- 
ed," says  Swedenborg,  "  that  the 
ancients,  by  the  name  of  a  thing, 
understood'nothing  but  its  essence ; 
and  by  seeing  and  calling  by  name, 
they  meant  the  knowledge  of  its 
nature  and  quality."  23. 

flee  ye  into  another]  not  only, 
as  Mr.  Norton  suggests,  that  they 
may  escape  persecution,  but  that 
they  mav  carry  on  their  work  more 
effectually.  24,  2^.  The 

diflerent  relations  of  Christ  to  the 
Apostles,  viz.  the  teacher  to  his 
pupils,  the  master  [lord]  to  his  ser- 
vants, and  the  lord  or  head  of  the 
house  to  his  dependents ;  literally, 
his  domestics.  27.  What 

ye  hear  in  the  ear]  "  Allusion 
is  here  made  to  the  manner  of  the 
schools,  where  the  doctor  whispered 
out  of  the  chair  into  the  ear  of  the 
interpreter,  and  he  with  a  loud  voice 
repeated  to  the  whole  school  that 


which  was  spoken  in  the  ear." 
Lightfoot.  the  house- 

tops] the  flat  roofs  of  the  houses, 
where  trumpets  were  sounded  to  at- 
tract attention,  and  proclamations 
were  made.  32.  him  will 

I  confess  also]  The  emphatic  I. 
What  personal  dignity  and  authority 
must  lie  under  it,  to  sustain  it  iii 
such  a  connection!  Who  is  this 
that  promises  to  recognize  and  ac- 
kr.owledge  us  before  the  throne  of 
God,  in  the  presence  of  his  Father 
who  is  in  the  heavens?  Could  any 
prophet  or  righteous  man,  —  G  ideon 
or  Barak,  Abraham  or  Samuel,  — 
promise  thus  to  confess  before  God 
those  Avho  had  confessed  him  before 
men?  Only  the  "one  mediator 
between  God  and  man,  the  man 
Christ  Jesus,"  (1  Tim.  ii.  5)  can 
stand  in  this  relation  between  us 
and  God.  34.  not  to 

send  peace,  but  a  sword]  Not 
my  wish,  but  the  inevitable  i-esult. 


MATTHEW    X. 


199 


35  on  earth ;  I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword.  For  I  am 
come  to  set  a  man  at  variance  against  his  father,  and  the  daugh- 
ter against  her  mother,  and  the  daughter-in-law  against  her 

3C  mother-in-law :    and  a  man's  foes  shall  be  they  of  his  own 

37  household.  He  that  lovetli  father  or  mother  more  than  me  is 
not  worthy  of  me ;  and  he  that  loveth  son  or  daughter  more 

38  than  me  is  not  worthy  of  me  ;  and  he  that  taketh  not  his  cross, 
£9  and  followeth  after  me,  is  not  worthy  of  me.     He  that  findeth 

liis  life  shall  lose  it ;  and  he  that  losetli  his  hfe  for  my  sake 
40  shall  fmd  it.     He  that  receiveth  you  receiveth  me  ;  and  he  that 


Think  i;ot  liiat  yoii  can  escape  the 
trial.  The  throne  of  peace  is  to  be 
established  in  the  midst  of  discord 
and  Avar.  Love  enters  with  its 
divine  message,  its  rebuke  against 
sin,  its  offers  of  mercy,  but  men 
turn  against  it,  and  strife  and  wars 
ensue.  *'  What  now  follows,"  says 
Stiei*,  "  down  to  ver.  39,  form  '  a 
circle  of  ideas  Avliich,'  as  Winzen- 
mann  says,  'ncv.n-  came  from  the 
mind  of  fnortal,  before  Jesus.'  It  is 
the  sublimin.g  of  all  the  prophetic 
expectations  concerning  tlie  king- 
dom of  God  into  the  transcendent 
and  future  and  heavenly;  in  per- 
fect correspondence  with  the  true 
sense  of  all  prophecy,  which  never 
could,  however,  till  now  be  so  clear- 
ly apprehended  and  expressed.  This 
is  a  testimony  which  is  effectually 
thrown  in  the  way  of  all  Avho  would 
build  up  the  kingdom  of  peace  on 

this  side But,  although 

everything  in  his  kingdom  looks 
forward  to  the  beyond  and  the  fu- 
ture, to  the  finding  of  life,  in  respect 
to  all  who  shall  be  found  worthy  of 
him,  this  heavenly  kingdom  does 
not  give  up  the  earth.  Upon  it,  and 
in  hot  conflict,  must  the  heirs  of 
everlasting  peace  secure  and  pre- 
pare for  their  inheritance."  This  is 
an  effectual  answer  to  those  timid 
sentimentalists  and  pi'udent  con- 
servatives, who  think  more  of  peace 
and  present  security  than  of  right- 
oous)iess  and  truth, \vhich,  however 
mildly  urged,  awaken  the  anger  and 
deadly  opposition  of  those  whose 
intere'sts  they  would  compromise, 
and  whose  lives  they  rebuke. 


38.  that  taketh   not  his  cross] 

This  is  the  first  mention  that  is 
made  of  the  cross,  that  great  sym- 
bol of  Christian  self-denial  and  self- 
sacrifice  and  death,  and  through 
death  of  victory.  The  word  must 
liave  fallen  with  a  strange  chill  on 
the  hearts  of  the  disciples.  All  that 
they  could  then  understand  by  it 
savored  of  humiliation  and  pain 
and  infamy.  It  was  not  till  after 
the  resurrection  of  Christ  that  the 
hallowed  and  triumphant  associ- 
ations, now  connected  with  it,  could 
have  power  over  them,  or  anv  mean- 
ing for  them.  39.  He  that 
findeth  his  lifej  "  We  have  once 
more  V'^X'/  ^^  that  deeper  sense  in 
Avhich  we  found  it  at  v.  28,  point- 
ing from  the  life  of  the  body  to  a 
yet  higher  life.  This  striking  decla- 
ration contains,  if  both  sayings  are 
taken  literally,  a  perfect  contradic- 
tion ;  consequently  the  Jindiny  and 
hsing  must  obviously,  in  the  first 
place,  be  understood  in  different 
senses.  In  the  second  place,  ^^xh 
also  must  be  used  in  two  opposite 
senses.  The  "^vxh  which  is  to  be 
killed,  which  must  be  cnicified,  is 
the  sinful  self-life  of  the  old  man, 
which  is  truly  death ;  and  this  dead 
hfe  must  be  mortified  and  lost  by 
an  internal,  continual  cmcifixioh 
and  self-denial  (of  wliich  the  taking 
up  of  the  external  cross  is  only  an 
external  expression),  in  order  that 
we  may  find  the  living  life,  —  our 
sanctified,  glorified,  and  eternal  life. 

He  who  gives  up,  in  the 

fellowship  of  the  cross  of  Christ, 


200  MATTHEW    X. 

receiveth  me  receiveth  him  that  sent  me.  He  that  recelveth  41 
a  prophet  in  the  name  of  a  prophet,  shall  receive  a  prophet's 
reward ;  and  he  that  receiveth  a  righteous  man,  in  the  name 
of  a  righteous  man,  shall  receive  a  righteous  man's  reward. 
And  whosoever  shall  give  to  drink  unto  one  of  these  little  ones  42 
a  cup  of  cold  water  only,  in  the  name  of  a  disciple,  verily  I  say 
unto  you,  he  shall  in  no  wise  lose  his  reward. 


all  that  which  mnst  die  and  pass  Mount,  the  peroration  goes  up  and 
away,  has  by  such  loss  obtained  the  finds  its  solemn  climax  in  the  great- 
gain  of  eternal  blessedness."  Stier.  est  and  most  terrible  consequences 
42.  verily  I  say  unto  of  unfaithfulness  and  sin  ;  here  it 
you]  This  impressive  form  of  comes  down  and  finds  its  affecting 
affirmation  comes  in  at  the  close  anti-climax  in  the  certain  reward 
of  each  separate  train  of  thought  of  the  smallest  act  of  kindness  per- 
in  this  discourse,  viz.  at  verses  15,  formed  in  the  spirit  of  a  disciple  to 
23.  and  42.    In  the  Sermon  on  the  any  one  of  Christ's  little  ones. 


MATTHEW   XI.  201 


CHAPTER     XI. 

John  the  Baptist  and  his  Message. 

Jesus  continued  in  Galilee.  John  the  Baptist  had  been 
for  some  time  imprisoned  by  Herod.  This  was  Herod  An- 
tipas,  the  son  of  Herod  the  Great,  who  is  mentioned  in  the 
second  chapter  of  Matthew.  His  father  had  once  by  will 
named  him  as  his  successor  in  Judsea  ;  but  he  afterwards 
changed  his  mind,  and  leaving  his  son  Archelaus,  king  of 
Judaea,  appointed  Herod  to  the  inferior  dignity  of  tetrarch  or 
viceroy  of  Galilee  to  the  north,  and  of  Perea  which  lies  on 
the  east  side  of  the  Jordan.  Herod  Antipas  was  a  cunning, 
unscrupulous  man.  His  usual  place  of  residence  was  at 
Tiberias,  a  name  which,  in  honor  of  the  Roman  Emperor 
Tiberius,  he  had  given  to  a  town  on  the  southwestern  bor- 
der of  the  Lake  of  Galilee,  probably  somewhere  from  eight 
to  eleven  miles  south  from  Capernaum.  In  the  other  ex- 
tremity of  his  kingdom,  only  a  few  miles  eastwardly  from  the 
place  where  the  Jordan  empties  into  the  Dead  Sea,  he  had 
a  castle  called  Machoerus,  which  had  been  enlarged  and 
fortified  by  his  father,  and  in  w^hich,  as  appears,  Herod 
Antipas  sometimes  resided.  In  this  castle,  according  to 
Josephus  (Ant.  XVIII.  5.  2),  John  was  imprisoned.  He 
had  never  quite  comprehended  the  nature  of  the  kingdom 
of  Heaven  which  he  had  announced  as  near  at  hand,  nor 
could  he  fully  understand  either  the  character  or  the  office 
of  Jesus,  to  w^hom  he  pointed  his  disciples  (John  i.  29)  as 
"  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world,'* 
and  of  whom  he  had  afterwards  said  (John  iii.  30),  "  he  must 
increase,  but  I  must  decrease."  In  this  respect  he  was  like 
other  prophets  chosen  for  a  specific  purpose,  who  sometimes 


202  MATTHEW    XI. 

(Dan.  xii.  8)  had  but  an  imperfect  understanding  of  the 
symbolical  images  which  they  saw,  and  the  words  they  used. 
Even  to  the  seers  themselves  "the  words  were  closed  up  and 
sealed  "  for  the  time. 

We  sometimes  attribute  a  sort  of  omniscience  to  men 
raised  up  by  God,  and  inspired  only  for  a  particular  pur- 
pose. And  when  a  man  has  once  been  set  apart  in  this  way, 
we  are  too  apt  to  suppose  that  he  must  be  entirely  unlike 
otlier  men,  and  free  from  human  infirmities  and  passions. 
But  even  Moses,  who  was  favored  with  a  nearer  and  more 
frequent  access  to  God  than  any  other  of  the  prophets,  had 
his  seasons  of  distrust  (Ex.  iii.  iv.),  of  unrestrained  passion 
(Ex.  xxxii.  19),  and  unbelief  (Num.  xx.  12).  Elijah,  the 
greatest  of  the  prophets  who  came  after  him,  showed  him- 
self to  be  of  like  passions  with  other  men,  and  (1  Kings  xix. 
4-10)  had  his  time  of  almost  angry  impatience,  despond- 
ency, and  doubt.  In  this  they  were  only  subject  as  men  to 
the  laws  of  our  physical  and  mental  constitution.  The  more 
they  were  raised  above  themselves  in  their  moments  of  re- 
ligious exaltation,  the  more  severe  would  the  reaction  be 
likely  to  be,  and  the  greater  the  depression  that  followed. 

John  the  Baptist,  who  in  his  public  ministry  had  been  fol- 
lowed by  thousands  to  whom  he  had  been  devoting  himself 
with  all  the  zeal  and  energy  of  his  earnest  and  powerful 
nature,  proclaiming  the  near  approach  of  the  long-expected 
kingdom  of  Heaven,  and  having  the  head  of  that  kingdom 
jjointed  out  to  him  by  a  voice  from  heaven,  was  now  cut  off 
from  his  public  labors,  and  shut  up  in  a  prison  far  away  from 
the  scene  of  Christ's  ministry.  He  had  been  urging  the 
necessity  of  immediate  repentance  as  a  preparation  for  the 
immediate  coming  of  the  kingdom  of  G^d.  He  waits  in 
awe  and  expectation,  but  the  silence  is  not  broken  by  the 
sound  of  its  coming.  What  can  be  the  meaning  of  this 
delay  ?  The  energies  of  his  active  and  powerful  nature  are 
thrown  in  upon  themselves.  He  is  moved  by  strong  and 
violent  emotions.     He  broods  over  the  unpromising  condi- 


MATTHEW   XI.  203 

tion  of  things,  and  is  disturbed  by  the  tardy  development  of 
t!ie  Divine  plans.  He  becomes  impatient  and  distrustful. 
'•  Can  it  be,"  he  may  have  asked  himself  amid  the  many 
thoughts  that  rushed  upon  his  mind,  "  that  there  is  any  mis- 
take in  this  matter  ?  "  The  slightest  doubt  is  too  painful  to 
be  borne,  when  the  whole  thing  can  so  easily  be  set  at  rest 
by  one  word  from  Jesus  himself.  The  impatient  doubt  could 
hardly  have  gone  further  than  this.  His  faith  in  Jesus 
could  not  have  been  seriously  disturbed,  or  he  would  not 
have  sent  his  followers  to  ask  Jmn  the  question  which  he  put. 
He  would  have  sent  them  rather  to  see  for  themselves,  and 
to  inquire  of  others.  But  tired  of  the  delay,  brooding  over 
the  possibilities  of  mistake,  with  apprehensions  and  forebod- 
ings which  bear  some  proportion  to  the  grandeur  of  his 
previous  anticipations,  in  his  forced  inactivity  and  confine- 
ment, he  sends  two  of  his  disciples  across  the  whole  length 
of  the  province,  to  ask  Jesus  whether  he  is  really  the  one 
who  was  to  come,  or  whether  they  were  to  look  for  another  ? 
In  these  few  words,  John  intimated  his  impatience  of  delay, 
his  secret  misgivings,  and  his  desire  that  Jesus  would  adopt 
some  more  decided  and  effective  course.  The  whole  pro- 
ceeding on  the  part  of  John  is  perfectly  natural,  and  in  no 
way  inconsistent  with  the  assurance  which  had  been  mirac- 
ulously given  to  him  in  regard  to  the  office  and  person  of 
the  Messiah.  Such  alternations  of  feeling,  and  such  convul- 
sive movements  of  the  mind,  leading  them  for  the  moment 
to  question  the  reality  of  their  most  cherished  convictions, 
and  even  of  what  their  eyes  have  seen,  belong  to  men  of  his 
temperament,  even  where,  as  in  the  case  of  Martin  Luther, 
there  is  the  strongest  faith  and  the  most  courageous  and  de- 
termined energy  of  will. 

How  admirable  the  course  which  Jesus  took  to  satisfy 
John,  and  how  in  its  calmness  does  it  show  his  infinite  supe- 
riority, and  the  ea^y,  majestic  ascendency  which  he  had  over 
men  !  Merely  to  declare  in  words  that  he  was  the  Messiah 
would  not  have  satisfied  the  prisoner  in  his  present  state  of 


204  MATTHEW   XI. 

mind.  "  Why  then,"  he  might  have  asked,  "  if  he  is  the 
Messiah,  does  he  so  long  delay  ? "  Nor  had  the  time  yet 
come  for  Jesus  publicly  to  announce  himself  as  the  Messiah. 
He  knew  that  whenever  that  announcement  was  made,  his 
earthly  ministry  must  be  brought  speedily  to  an  end,  and, 
therefore,  in  the  presence  of  John's  disciples,  in  that  same 
hour  (Luke  vii.  21)  he  performed  many  and  various  kinds 
of  miracles ;  and,  having  thus  impressed  them  with  a  convic- 
tion of  more  than  earthly  authority  and  power,  he  directed 
them  to  go  back  and  tell  their  master  what  they  had  seen 
and  heard,  —  how  the  blind  see,  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers  are 
cleansed,  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  are  raised  up,  and  the  poor 
have  the  good  tidings  proclaimed  to  them,  —  in  this  message 
using  just  enough  of  the  old  prophetic  language  (Isaiah 
XXXV.  5,  6,  xlii.  7,  Ixi.  1)  to  give,  in  the  mind  of  John,  ad- 
ditional significance  and  solemnity  to  his  message.  Then  he 
added,  in  words  of  mild  rebuke  and  encouragement,  coupling 
a  benediction  with  his  reproof,  "And  blessed  is  he  who 
shall  not  be  offended  in  me,"  —  who  does  not  allow  himself 
to  be  disturbed,  or  to  lose  his  faith  in  me,  because,  in  my 
divinely  appointed  work,  I  am  not  pursuing  precisely  the 
course  which  he  had  expected.  No  reply  could  have  been 
better  fitted  to  the  state  of  John's  mind,  which  was  impatient 
because  it  was  so  earnest,  —  disappointed  and  doubting  be- 
cause it  had  believed  and  expected  so  much. 

Then,  7-14,  turning  to  the  multitude,  Jesus  made  this 
an  occasion  of  admonition  and  instruction  to  them.  At  the 
same  time  he  would  renew  their  respect  for  John,  which 
might  have  been  lessened  by  the  doubts  into  which  he  would 
appear,  from  his  questions,  to  have  been  betrayed.  There  is 
nothing  which  the  multitudes  bear  with  less  patience  than 
any  seeming  vacillation,  or  want  of  steadfastness  in  their 
great  men.  "  What  went  ye  out  into  the  wilderness  to  see  ?  " 
Did  ye  go  out  expecting  to  find  one  who  would  bend  to  your 
changing  wishes,  as  a  reed  to  the  wind  ;  or  one  who  would 
gratify  your  voluptuous  tastes,  like  courtiers  who  are  in 


MATTHEW   XI.  205 

kings'  houses,  with  their  soft,  effeminate  garments  ?  Or  did 
you  go  into  that  solitary  place  to  find  a  prophet  ?  Yea,  I 
say  unto  you,  and  more  than  a  prophet.  He  is  one  who  has 
been  foretold  by  prophets  as  the  herald  who  should  be  raised 
up  to  announce  the  new  dispensation,  and  to  prepare  the  way 
for  its  coming.  Among  those  born  of  women  no  greater 
man  than  he  has  ever  been  raised  up.  And  yet,  he  adds, 
with  solemn  emphasis,  calling  their  attention  to  the  higher 
kingdom  which  is  now  to  be  established,  the  least  in  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven  is  greater  than  he.  That  higher  kingdom 
is  of  such  transcendent  dignity  and  power,  that  its  lowest 
subject  shall  be  greater  than  he  who  stood  foremost  in  the 
old  dispensation.  Possibly  Jesus  may  have  had  in  his  mind 
the  Roman  empire,  whose  citizens  were  greater,  and  bore 
with  them  the  ensigns  of  a  mightier  power,  than  kings  of 
other  nations.  But  what  does  he  mean  in  saying  that  the 
least  of  his  own  disciples  is  greater  than  John  the  Baptist  ? 
He  means  that  the  humblest  of  those  who  really  belong  to 
his  kingdom  are  made  the  partakers  of  a  diviner  life,  and 
better  understand  the  nature  of  his  kingdom,  and  the  ele- 
ments of  a  true  spiritual  greatness,  than  even  the  greatest 
of  those  who  had  gone  before.  "  They  are  greater,"  says 
Lightfoot,  "  in  respect  of  clear  and  distinct  knowledge  in 
judging  of  the  nature  and  quality  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven." 
The  knowledge  of  a  divine  life  unfolded  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  and  set  before  the  humblest  of  his  followers  in 
the  words,  the  life,  death,  and  resurrection  of  Jesus,  is  be- 
yond all  that  the  prophets  and  righteous  men  of  old  were 
able  to  attain  to.  They  indeed,  13,  —  i.  e.  the  law  and  the 
prophets  until  John,  —  only  predicted  the  coming  of  the 
heavenly  kingdom,  —  only  pointed  on  to  it  in  the  remote 
and  distant  future.  John,  in  this  respect  greater  and  more 
favored  than  they,  proclaimed  it  as  already  at  hand,  and 
from  his  time  (the  idea  is  drawn  from  a  besieged  city)  men 
are  forcing  their  way  into  it,  and  taking  it  as  by  violence. 
In  these  words  Jesus  alludes  to  the  crowds  who,  first  attracted 
18 


20G  MATTHEW    XI.    15-19. 

by  John's  preaching,  were  now,  from  their  misapprehension 
of  his  kingdom,  pressing  round  him,  and  seeking  as  it  were 
to  force  their  way  in.  "And  this,"  he  adds,  14,  "if  ye  will 
only  receive  it,"  i.  e.  not  take  the  language  literally,  but 
understand  it  as  it  should  be  understood,  is  Elijah,  whose 
coming  (see  note  xvii.  10)  before  the  Messiah  was  generally 
looked  for  among  the  Jews. 

15-19.  The  comparison  here  in  our  common  version 
is  rendered  obscure.  The  children  who  say  to  their  com- 
panions, "  We  have  piped  to  you,  and  ye  have  not  danced ; 
mourned  to  you,  and  ye  have  not  lamented,"  are  sometimes 
thought  to  represent  John  and  Jesus,  while  the  others, 
who  were  so  unreasonable  as  to  respond  to  them  neither 
in  their  merriment  nor  their  mourning,  represent  those 
who  condemned  both  the  Saviour  and  his  forerunner.  The 
objection  to  this  is,  that  it  is  precisely  the  opposite  of  what 
Jesus  says  :  It  —  this  generation  —  "  is  like  children  sitting 
in  the  market-places,  and  saying,"  &c.,  &c.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  unbelieving  Jews  were 
represented  by  the  children,  who  complained  that  their 
companions  would  sympathize  with  them  neither  in  their 
make-believe  mirth  nor  their  lamentation.  Luke  (vii.  32) 
says,  "  They  were  saying  to  one  another,"  &c.,  &c.  And 
Tischendorf  adopts  a  similar  expression  as  the  correct  read- 
ing in  Matthew.  The  true  interpretation  is  thus  made 
easy.  To  what  shall  I  compare  this  generation?  It  is 
like  a  crowd  of  children  in  some  public  place,  seeking 
amusement,  and  able  to  agree  upon  nothing,  but  chiding 
one  another  as  hard  to  please,  and  by  their  mutual  re- 
proaches only  adding  to  the  general  confusion  and  dis- 
content. Such  a  capricious,  dissatisfied,  complaining  race 
is  this  generation,  who  complain  of  John  as  a  half-crazed 
demoniac  because  of  his  austere  and  ascetic  life ;  and  yet 
when  Jesus  came  eating  and  drinking  as  others  did,  re- 
ject and  stigmatize  him  as  self-indulgent  and  intemperate, 
the  companion  of  the  low  and   the   abandoned.     But,   he 


MATTHEW    XI.    20-24.  207 

continues,  19,  whatever  these  may  say  or  do,  wisdom  is 
justified,  i.  e.  is  recognized  and  honored,  by  those  who 
in  spirit  are  really  her  children.  Whatever  the  outward 
form  under  which  she  may  come,  however  she  may  be 
despised  and  rejected  among  men,  they  who  are  her  chil- 
dren, whose  hearts  are  open  to  her  influence,  will  hear 
her  voice,  and  hold  her  in  honor.  To  them  she  needs 
no  word  of  commendation  or  defence,  whether  she  come 
under  the  severe  guise  of  John,  the  preacher  in  the  wilder- 
ness, or  in  the  more  divinely  attractive  life  and  teachings 
of  the  Son  of  man. 


20-24.  —  Great  Privileges  unimproved   visited   by   a 
HEAVIER  Condemnation. 

These  words  were  probably  spoken  after  a  pause.  The 
word  "then"  with  which  they  are  introduced  rather  in- 
timates that  some  time,  minutes  or  days,  had  intervened. 
The  idea  is  the  same  as  in  Matthew  x.  15.  In  propor- 
tion to  our  privileges  are  our  responsibilities ;  and  the 
greater  the  opportunities  that  we  cast  aside  or  neglect, 
the  heavier  the  condemnation  that  must  fall  upon  us  "in 
the  day^  of  judgment,"  i.  e.  as  Mr.  Norton  translates  it, 
"when  sentence  is  passed."  As  to  the  cities  Tyre  and 
Sidon,  they  had,  many  centuries  before  our  Saviour,  been 
among  the  most  opulent  and  enterprising  cities  in  the 
world.  At  the  present  time,  and  for  centuries  past,  they 
have  been  places  of  no  importance,  and  remain  in  a  com- 
paratively desolate  and  ruinous  condition.  But  in  the  time 
of  Jesus  they  were  populous  and  flourishing  cities,  and  con- 
tinued so  for  generations  afterwards.  "Why  then  are  they 
mentioned,  in  connection  with  Sodom,  as  examples  of  a 
Divine  retribution  ?  They  were  noted,  even  among  heathen 
nations,  for  the  profligacy,  licentiousness,  and  degrading 
superstitions  to  which  they  were  given  over.  The  force 
of  the  comparison  lies  in  this.     It  is  as  if  Jesus  had  said, 


208  MATTHEW    XL    25-30. 

"You  know  how  utterly  degraded  and  abandoned  these 
cities  are,  to  what  lewd,  debasing  superstitions  they  have 
bound  tliemselves,  and  how  hopeless  their  moral  and  re- 
ligious condition  is.  And  yet,  notwithstanding  all  this, 
I  declare  unto  you,  that  if  the  mighty  works  which 
have  been  done  here  had  been  done  long  ago  in  Tyre 
and  Sidon,  they  would  have  repented  in  dust  and 
ashes,  and  even  Sodom,  if  it  had  witnessed  such  works 
of  divine  goodness  and  power,  would  have  remained  to 
this  day.  And  thou  Capernaum,  which  art  exalted  to 
heaven,  which  art  above  all  others  in  privileges,  shalt  be 
brought  down  to  hell,  —  to  Hades,  i.  e.  to  the  abode  of 
the  dead,  to  utter  destruction.  It  was  the  strongest  lan- 
guage that  could  be  framed  to  express  the  privileges 
which  Christ  was  offering,  and  the  heavy  condemnation 
and  sorrow  which  must  fall  on  those  who  reject  them. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  words  of  Jesus  have  been  fulfilled 
in  regard  to  the  places  themselves.  Tyre  and  Sidon, 
thouofh  in  a  ruinous  and  degraded  condition  at  the  end 
of  the  last  century  and  the  beginning  of  this,  are  now 
more  prosperous,  and  have  never  been  so  utterly  blotted 
out  from  the  knowledge  and  memory  of  man  as  Chorazin 
and  Bethsaida,  of  which  no  trace  can  be  found  by  the 
most  careful  researches.  Nor  have  modern  travellers  been 
able  to  fix  with  any  degree  of  certainty  on  the  site  of 
Capernaum,  which  was  favored  above  all  other  cities  during 
our  Saviour's  ministry  as  the  place  of  his  residence. 

25  -  30.  —  Christ's  Thankfulness,  and  his  Call  to  the 
Heavy  Laden. 

According  to  Luke  (x.  17-21),  who  in  this  case  marks 
the  time  more  particularly  than  Matthew,  these  words  were 
spoken  after  the  return  of  the  seventy  dieciples.  They  had 
come  back  with  joy  on  account  of  the  miracles  which  they 
had  performed.     In  this  their  first  success  Jesus  sees  the 


MATTHEW   XI.    25-30.  209 

token  of  the  ultimate  triumph  over  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness. "  And  he  said  unto  them,  I  beheld  Satan  as  light- 
ning fall  from  lieaven."  Yet  he  warns  them  not  to  rejoice 
in  their  miraculous  powers,  but  rather  that  their  names 
are  written  in  heaven.  Then,  at  the  thought  of  the  way 
in  which  these  simple,  unlearned  men,  these  babes  in 
knowledge,"  have  received  and  proclaimed  his  truth,  he 
breaks  out  into  the  sublime  exclamation  of  thanksgiving 
which  is  here  recorded  by  Matthew.  Though  his  instruc- 
tions were  hidden  from  men  whose  wisdom  is  only  the 
blinding  prudence  of  this  world,  and  though  he  may  have 
been  pained  to  find  his  offers  rejected  by  them,  and  to 
foresee  the  sorrows  which  they  who  would  not  hear  him 
must  bring  upon  themselves,  he  nevertheless  bows  in  thank- 
fulness :  "  Even  so.  Father,  for  so  it  seemed  good  in  thy 
sight."  He  turns  with  a  perfect  trust  to  the  infinite  and 
holy  Father,  and  rests  in  his  will  with  gratitude  and  joy. 
He  stops  in  no  lower  sphere.  He  asks  not  and  he  ex- 
plains not  how  the  hiding  of  these  things  from  the  wise 
and  prudent,  to  their  overthrow  and  destruction,  though 
they  were  revealed  unto  babes,  should  be  a  reason  for 
rejoicing ;  but  he  goes  to  the  good  pleasure  of  his  Father 
in  heaven  as  the  centre  of  all  that  he  could  wish.  The 
benignant  will  of  God  was  so  entirely  his  will,  —  that  central 
Fountain  of  life  and  joy  so  filled  to  overflowing  his  own 
soul,  that  whatever  might  come  was  to  him  a  source  of 
thankfulness,  because  it  came  from  Him.  "  Even  so.  Father, 
for  so  it  seemed  good  in  thy  sight."  And,  as  an  additional 
cause  for  gratitude,  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  All  things  are 
delivered  or  taught  unto  me  by  the  Father.  "Everything 
has  been  given  to  me  by  the  Father."  Though  man  can- 
not understand  me,  the  Father  does  ;  and  so,  though  men 
do  not  understand  the  Father,  yet  I  and  they  to  whom 
I  shall  reveal  Him,  do  understand  him.  Then,  in  the 
fulness  of  the  Divine  wisdom,  power,  and  love  which  had 
been  given  to  him,  he  uttered,  28-30,  the  words  of  in- 
18* 


210  MATTHEW    XI. 

vital  ion,  and  the  promise  of  relief  and  rest,  which,  from 
that  day  to  this,  have  fallen  with  such  infinite  tenderness 
on  lahoring  and  burdened  souls.  No  commentary  can  add 
to  or  bring  out  their  meaning.  They  jDour  out  their  sweet- 
ness, with  ever-increasing  freshness  and  power,  into  the  souls 
of  those  who  accept  his  offer,  and  who,  giving  themselves 
up  entirely  to  him,  take  his  yoke  upon  them,  and  learn 
of  him  in  meekness  and  lowliness  of  heart. 


NOTES. 


And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Jesus  had  made  an  end  of  com- 
manding his  twelve  disciples,  he  departed  thence,  to  teach  and 
to  preach  in  their  cities. 

Now  when  John  had  heard  in  the  prison  the  works  of  Christ,   2 
he  sent  two  of  his  disciples,  and  said  unto  him.  Art  thou  he  that   3 
should  come,  or  do  we  look  for  another  ?     Jesus  answered  and   4 
said  unto  them,  Go  and  show  John  again  those  things  which 
ye  do  hear  and  see ;  the  blind  receive  their  sight,  and  the  lame   5 
walk,  the  lepers  are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  the  dead  are 
raised  up,  and  the  poor  have  the  gospel  preached  to  them ; 
and  blessed  is  he,  whosoever  shall  not  be  offended  in  mc. 6 


2.  the   Avorks   of  Christ]      of  are  not  recorded.     The  Gospels  can 

the  Christ  or  Jlessiah.     This  is  the  hardly   be   regarded   as   containing 

only  instance,  except    in   the   first  more  than  samples  of  the  diff'ei-eiit 

verse   of   the   first    chapter,  where  sorts  of  icorks  which  he  performed. 

Matthew  in  his  own  narrative  ap-  We  must  not,  therefore,  be  surprise. I 

plies  this  name  to  Jesus.     It  proba-  that  single  acts,  such  as  raising  the 

bly  is  used  here  as  particularly  ap-  Avidow's  son  at  Nain  (Lukevii.  11- 

proprlate,  in  consequence  of  John's  15),  and  the  raising  of  Lazarus  (John 

state  of  mind  in  regard  to  Jesus  as  xi.  1-46),  should  be  mentioned  oidy 

the  Messiah.     In  that  case  it  liar-  by  one  writer.  6.  ofiended] 

monizes   with    the   view   we    have  The  root  from  which  this  expression 

taken  of  John,  and  the  object  of  his  comes   in    Greek   means   a  tra])  or 

message.  5.  Ithe  dead  snare,  and  thence  a  stumbling-block. 

are  raised  up]     ^latthew  has  spe-  Whatever    might   trip    one    up  or 

eified  only  one  case  (ix.  24,  25)  of  cause  him  to  stumble.     Blessed   is 

raising  a  person  from  tlie  dead.    The  he  who  is  not  offended  in  me,  i.  e. 

expression  here  implies  more,  and  who  finds    nothing    in  my   course 

should  remind  us  of  the  multitude  wliich   may   serve  as  a  stumbling- 

of   his   extraordinary   acts    which  block  or  impediment  in  the  way  of 


MATTHEW   XI. 


211 


7  And,  as  they  departed,  Jesus  began  to  say  unto  the  multitudes 
concerning  John :    What  went  ye  out  into  the  wilderness  to 

8  see  ?  a  reed  shaken  with  the  wind  ?  But  what  Avent  ye  out  for 
to  see  V  a  man  clothed  in  soft  raiment  ?  Behold,  they  that  wear 

9  soft  clothing  are  in  kings'  houses.  But  what  went  ye  out  for  to 
see  ?  a  prophet  ?  Yea,  I  say  unto  you,  and  more  than  a  prophet. 

10  For  this  is  he  of  whom  it  is  written,  "  Behold,  I  send  my  mes- 
senger before  thy  face,  which  shall  prepare  thy  way  before 

11  thee."  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  among  them  that  are  born  of 
women  there  hath  not  risen  a  greater  than  John  the  Baptist ; 
notwithstanding,  he  that  is  least  in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  is 

12  greater  than  he.  And  from  the  days  of  John  the  Baptist  until 
now,  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent 


his  faith,  in  me.  "  When  persecu- 
tion and  tribulation  arise  because 
of  the  word,  immediately  he  is 
oftended  (Matt.  xiii.  21), 'i.  e.  he 
finds  an  impediment  or  stumbling- 
block  in  the  way  of  his  fidelity  to 
Christ.  So  xiii.  57,  xv.  12,  xvii!  27. 
Lest  we  should  offend  them,  i.  e. 
put  a  stumbling-block  in  their  way. 
10.  Behold,  I  send 
my  messenger  before  thy  face] 
Tills  is  taken,  with  a  slight  altera- 
tion, from  Malachi  iii.  1 :  "  Behold  I 
will  send  my  messenger,  and  he  shall 
])repare  the'  way  before  me  •,  and  the 
Lord  [not  Jehovah],  whom  ye  seek, 
shall  suddenly  come  to  his  temple." 
John,  therefore,  is  represented  as 
the  forerunner  of  the  Lord,  or  the 
]\Iessiah,  The  word  here  translated 
"  the  Lord,"  says  Dr.  Noyes,  ''  when 
used  without  the  article,  is  every- 
where applied  to  human  beings  in 
the  Old  Testament.  And  though 
with  the  article,  which  it  has  here, 
it  denotes  the  Sapi-eme  Being  as 
the  Lord  of  all  the  earth,  when  no 
other  use  of  the  article  can  be  as- 
signed except  to  denote  the  Supi-eme 
Being;  yet  in  this  verse  the  article 
may  be  used  merely  to  denote  that 
particular  lord  avIio  was  an  object 
of  expectation  and  desire." 

11.  Among  them  that  are 
born  of  women]  Possibly  this 
expression  is  used,  as  Oldshausen 
asserts,  by  way  of  contrast  to  those 
who  are  born  of  God  in  the  higher 


and   Christian  sense.  12. 

the  kingdom  of  Heaven  suf- 
fereth violence]  This  is  one  of 
the  obscure  and  ditficult  passages,  ou 
which  very  different  constructions 
have  been  put.  We  have  given  one 
in  our  general  remarks  above,  p.  205; 
but  are  by  no  means  sure  tliat  the 
following  is  not  a  more  satisfoctory 
explanation.  The  verb  may  be  con- 
sidered in  the  passive  voice,  and 
translated  is  foi-ced,  or  sufftreth 
violence ;  or  it  may  be  taken  as  in 
the  middle  voice,"^  and  transhited, 
forces  itself,  or  makes  its  oivn  toay 
by  force.  INIr.  Norton  renders  it, 
"  until  now  the  kingdom  of  Heaven 
is  forcing  its  way."  Stier  adopts  the 
same  interpretation.  "  The  king- 
dom of  Heaven,"  he  says,  "  pro- 
claims itself  loudly  and  openly, 
breaking  in  with  violence ;  the  poor 
are  compelled  (Luke  xiv.  23)  to 
enter  in  ;  those  who  oppose  it  are 
constrained  to  take  offence.  In 
short,  all  things  proceed  urgently 
Avith  it;  it  goes  with  'mighty  move- 
ment and  impulse  '  (as  Draseke 
preaches),  it  works  effectually  upon 
all  spirits  in  both  directions,  and  ou 
all  sides.  The  first  [clause  of  the 
sentence]  speaks  of  that  mighty 
excitement  which  the  breaking  in 
of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  in  itself 
occasions  ;  the  second  points  out 
inferentially  the  result.  Its  con- 
straining power  does  violence  to 
all ;  but  it  excites  at  the  same  time, 


212 


MATTHEW    XI. 


take  it  by  force.  For  all  the  prophets  and  the  law  prophesied,  13 
until  John.  And  if  ye  will  receive  it,  this  is  Elias,  which  u 
was  for  to  come.  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear.  15 
But  whereunto  shall  I  lilcen  this  generation  ?  It  is  like  unto  16 
children  sitting  in  the  markets,  and  calling  unto  their  fel- 
lows, and  saying,  We  have  piped  unto  you,  and  ye  have  not  n 
danced ;  we  have  mourned  unto  you,  and  ye  have  not  lament- 
ed. For  John  came  neither  eating  nor  drinking ;  and  they  18 
say.  He  hath  a  devil.     The   Son  of  Man  came  eating  and  i9 


in  the  case  of  many,  obstinate  op- 
position. He  who  will  not  submit 
to  it  must  be  offended  and  resist, 
and  he  who  yields  to  it  must  press 
and  struggle  through  this  offence. 
Thus  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  does 
and  suffers  violence,  both  in  its  two- 
fold influence:  it  exerts  a  mighty 
power  itself,  and  a  mighty  power 
must  be  put  forth  towards  it,  wheth- 
er it  be  of  faith  or  of  unbelief." 

15.  He  that  hath  ears] 
A  solemn  call  of  attention  to  what 
has  been  said.  16.  It  is 

like  unto  children]  According 
to  Tischendorf 's  reading,  this  should 
be  translated,  '*  It  is  like  children 
sitting  in  the  markets,  who,  calling 
to  one  another,  say,"  &c. 
17.  We  have  piped]  .  Hired  mu- 
sicians were  employed  at  weddings 
and  at  funerals  (ix.  23).  The  chil- 
dren are  represented  as  imitating 
in  their  sports  these  hired  minsti-els; 
and  in  their  vehement  recrimina- 
tions crying  out  against  one  another, 
they  only  add  to  the  general  con- 
fusion and  inconsistency.  This  gen- 
eration reject  at  one  time  the  Bap- 
tist, because  of  his  ascetic  habits  ; 
and  at  another  time  the  Son  of 
Man,  because  of  hLs  free  and  liberal 
course  of  life,  and  add  to  the  gen- 
eral confusion  and  to  their  own  in- 
consistency by  their  divisions  among 
themselves,  accusing  one  another; 
one  party  exclaiming,  "  You  refuse 
to  have  this,"  and  the  other  retort- 
ing, "  You  refuse  to  have  that,"  like 
noisy,  unreasonable  children,  who 
are  crying  out  against  each  other; 
one  party  exclaiming,  "  We  have 
given  you  merry  music,  and  you 
have  not  danced,"   and  the  other 


party  replying  in  anger,  *'  We  have 
given  you  funei-al  music,  and  you 
have  not  lamented  ;  "  so  that  in'the 
disturbance  both  strains  alike  —  the 
merry  and  the  mournful  —  are  re- 
jected. The  picture  is  given  to  the 
life;  and  the  comparison  is  a  most 
interesting  one,  showing  as  it  does 
how  our  Saviour,  with  the  weight 
of  his  great  mission  upon  him, 
entered  into  the  amusements  of 
boys,  as  he  did  with  a  deeper  sym- 
pathy into  the  disposition  and  tem- 
per of  babes.  18.  He  hath 
a  devil]  a  demon.  The  Jews  be- 
lieved insanity  to  be  caused  by  evil 
spirits,  or  demons.  To  say  that  a 
man  has  a  demon  might  with  them 
mean  either  that  he  was  a  wicked 
man,  given  over  to  an  evil  spirit,  or 
that  he  was  a  maniac,  or  not  im- 
probably, as  in  this  case,  a  union  of 
the  two.  "  Thou  hast  a  devil,  and 
art  crazy  "  (John  x.  20);  —  the  first 
expression  representing  the  cause, 
and  the  second  the  effect. 
19.  is  justified]  This  woi*d  oc- 
curs in  the  Gospels  six  times,  and 
always  with  the  same  meaning,  viz. 
in  the  active  voice,  to  cause  to 
be  recognized  as  just  or  approved. 
"  By  thy  w^ords  thou  shalt  be  justi- 
fied," i.'  e.  approved,  or  recognized 
as   just.   (xii.   37.)     "  The    people 

justified  God,"  i.  e.  approved 

of  what  he  had  done,  or  declared 
him  to  be  just.  ( Luke  vii.  29.)  "  He, 
wishing  to  justify  himself,"  i.  e. 
to  cause  himself  to  be  recognized 
as  just.  (Luke  x.  29.)  "  Ye  are 
they  who  jiistify  yourselves  before 
men,"  i.  e.  would  cause  men  to 
recognize  you  as  just.  (Luke  xvi. 
15.)     "  This    man   went    down  to 


MATTHEW    XI. 


213 


drinking,  and  they  say,  Behold,  a  man  gluttonous  and  a  wine- 
bibber,  a  fi'iend  of  publicans  and  sinners.     But  Wisdom  is  jus- 

20  tified  of  her  children. Then  began  he  to  upbraid  the  cities 

wherein  most  of  his  mighty  works  were  done,  because  they 

21  repented  not :  Woe  unto  thee,  Chorazin !  woe  unto  thee,  Beth- 
saida !  for  if  the  mighty  works  which  were  done  in  you  had 
been  done  in  Tyre  and  Sidon,  they  would  have  repented  long 


lii.s  house  justified,"  i.  e.  approved 
1)V  (iiod,  reco2;iiized  by  him  as 
riVht.  (Luke  xviii.  14.) 
2 i.  Tyre  and  Sidon]  It  has  been 
usual  with  travellers  to  point  out  the 
literal  fulfilment  of  ancient  proph- 
ecies (Isa.  xxiii.  1  - 15 ;  Ezek.  xxvi. 
xxviii.)  in  regard  to  these  places. 
We  quote  a  few  passages  on  this 
subject  from  Stanley's  "  Sinai  and 
Palestine":  "  TheVe  is  one  point 
of  view  in  which  this  whole  coast 
is  specially  remarkable.  '  A  mourn- 
ful and  so'litaiy  silence  now  prevails 
along  the  shore  which  once  re- 
sounded with  the  Avorld's  debate.' 
This  sentence,  with  which  Gibbon 
solemnly  closes  his  chapter  on  the 
CiTisades,  Avell  sums  up  the  genei*al 
impression  still  left  by  the  six  days' 
ride  from  Be^TOot  to  Ascalon;  and 
it  is  no  matter  of  surprise  that  in 
this  impression  travellers  have  felt 
a  response  to  the  strains  in  which 
Isaiah  and  Ezekiel  foretold  the  des- 
olation of  T^Te  and  Sidon.  Li  one 
sense,  and  that  the  highest,  this  feel- 
ing is  just.  The  Phoenician  power 
which  the  prophets  denounced  has 
entirely  perished;  even  whilst  'the 
world's  debate  '  of  the  middle  ages 
gave  a  new  animation  to  these 
shores,  the  brilliant  Tyre  of  Alex- 
ander and  Barbarossa  had  no  real 
connection  with  the  Tyre  of  Hiram ; 
and  perhaps  no  greater  stretch  of 
imagination  in  ancient  history  is 
reqiiired  than  to  conceive  how  the 
two  small  towns  of  Tyre  and  Sidon, 
as  they  now  exist,  could  have  been 
the  parent  cities  of  Carthage  and 
Cadiz,  the  traders  with  Spain  and 
Britain,  the  wonders  of  the  East  for 
luxury  and  magnificence.  So  total 
a  destruction,  for  all  political  pur- 
poses, of  the  two  great  commercial 
states    of  the    ancient   world    has 


been  frequently  held  up  to  com- 
mercial states  in  the  modern  world, 
as  showing  the  pi-ecarious  teniu-e 
by  which  purely  mercantile  great- 
ness is  held ;  and  in  this  respect  the 
prophecies  of  the  Hebrew  seers  were 
a  real  revelation  of  the  coming  for- 
tunes of  the  woi-ld,  the  more  re- 
markable because  experience  had 
not  yet  justified  such  a  result.  But 
to  narrow  the  scope  of  these  sub- 
lime visions  to  the  actual  buildings 
and  sites  of  the  cities  is  as  uuAvar- 
ranted  by  facts  as  it  is  mistaken  in 
idea.  Sidon  has  probably  never 
ceased  to  be  a  populous,  and,  on  the 
whole,  a  flourishing  town;  small, 
indeed,  as  compared  w^ith  its  ancient 
grandeur,  but  never  desolate,  or 
without  some  portion  of  its  old 
traffic;  and  still  encompassed  round 
and  round  with  the  lines  of  its  red 
silk  manufacture.  Tyre  may  per- 
haps have  been  in  a  state  of  ruin 
shortly  after  the  Chaldajan,  and  sub- 
sequently after  the  Greek  conquest 
of  Syria.     But  it  has  ahvays  been 

speedily  rebuilt The  period 

during  which  it  sunk  to  the  lowest 
ebb  Avas  during  the  last  years  of 
the  past  and  the  fii-st  years  of  the 
present  century;  and  the  compara- 
tive desolation  w^hich  it  then  ex- 
hibited no  doubt  presented  some  of 
the  imagery  on  which  so  much 
stress  has  been  laid,  in  order  to  con- 
vey the  impression  of  its  being  a 
desolate  rock,  only  used  for  the  dry- 
ing of  fishermen's  nets.  But  as  this 
was  not  the  case  before  that  period, 
and  is  certainly  not  the  case  now, 
it  is  idle  to  seek  for  the  fulfilment  of 
the  ancient  prediction  within  those 
limits ;  and  the  ruin  of  the  empire 
of  Tyre,  combined  with  the  revival 
and  continuance  of  the  town  of 
Tyre,  is  thus  a  striking  instance  of 


214 


MATTHEW   XI. 


ago  in  sackcloth  and  ashes.     But  I  say  unto  you,  it  shall  bo  -n 
more  tolerable  for  Tyre  and  Sidon,  at  the  day  of  judgment, 
than  for  you.     And  thou,  Capernaum,  which  art  exalted  unto  23 
heaven,  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell ;  for  if  the  mighty  works 
which  have  been  done  in  thee  had  been  done  in  Sodom,  it 
would  have  remained  until  this  day.     But  I  say  unto  you,  that  24 
it  shall  be  more  tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom,  in  the  day  of 

Judgment,  than  for  thee. At  that  time  Jesus  answered  and  25 

said,  I  thank  thee,  O  Father,  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  be- 
cause thou  hast  hid  these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent, 
and  hast  revealed  them  unto  babes.     Even  so.  Father,  for  so  26 


the  moral  and  poetical,  as  distinct 
from  the  literal  and  prosaic,  accom- 
pllslimeiit  of  the  Prophetical  Scrip- 
ture<."  pp.  266,  267.  23. 

And  thou,  Capernaum  ]  "  It 
Avonld  almost  seem,"  says  Stanley, 
pp.  376,  377,  ''  as  if  the  woe  pro- 
nounced against  Capernaum  had 
been  literally  fulfilled,  as  if  the 
doom  of  the  cities  of  the  southern 
sea  had  been  visited  upon  those  of 
the  north,  as  if  it  had  been  more 
tolerable  for  the  land  of  Sodom,  in 
the  day  of  its  earthly  judirment, 
than  for  Capeiniaum.  It  has  indeed 
been  more  tolerable  in  one  sense; 
for  the  name,  and  perhaps  even  the 
]-emains,  of  Sodom  are  still  to  be 
found  on  the  shores  of  the  Dead 
Sea,  whilst  that  of  Cai^ernaum  has, 
on   the    Lake    of  Genesareth,  been 

utterly  lost Still,  it  would 

be  contrary  to  the  general  spirit  of 
prophecy,  whether  in  the  Old  or 
Kew  Testament,  to  press  this  argu- 
ment too  far.  The  woe,  here  as 
elsewhere,  was  dovibtless  spoken, 
not  against  the  walls  and  houses  of 
these  villages,  but  against  those 
who  dwelt  within  them;  and,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  it  would  appear  that 
they  [the  Avails  and  houses]  did 
survive  the  terrible  cui-se  for  many 
generations."  23.  to  hell]  to 

Hades.  The  abode  of  the  dead,  — 
not  like  Gehenna,  —  a  place  of  tor- 
ture for  the  wicked  alone.  The  ex- 
pression, shnlt  be  brought  doicn  to  hell,, 
means,  shall  be  ntterly  destroijed. 

25.  and  hast  revealed  them 
unto  babes]     Pure  and  childlike 


persons,  —  those  who  in  singleness 
of  heart,  without  prejudices  or  pre- 
possessions of  their  own,  receive  the 
words  of  Jesus.  The  worldly  pru- 
dence of  the  wise  blinds  them  to 
truths  which  require  the  entire  sur- 
render of  themselves  to  Christ.  The 
philosophical  wise  men  have  their 
minds  too  much  circumscribed  by 
their  speculations  to  take  in  spiritual 
truths  like  those  taught  by  Jesus, 
which  transcend  the  bounds'^of  their 
reasoning,  and  take  them  into  higher 
and  broader  worlds  of  intelligence. 
Distinct  from  these  are  the  babes, 
to  Avhom  the  kingdom  of  God  is  re- 
vealed, and  to  whom  in  all  ages  of 
the  world  the  Saviour's  words  apply. 
But  in  his  exclamatFon  of  thanks- 
giving, he  probably  had  more  im- 
mediately in  his  mind  at  the  time 
the  seventy  who  had  just  returned 
rejoicing  from  their  first  evange- 
lizing mission.  "  These  unlearned, 
sincere,  and  childlike  men,  who,"  to 
use  the  langitage  of  a  friend,  "  had 
no  previously  cherished  system  to 
support, — no  abundant  treasury  of 
words,  which  they  Avere  liable,  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  to  sub- 
stitute for  the  very  words  of  Jesus ; 
no  habits  of  abstract  reasoning 
Avhich  might  lead  them  to  state  the 
results  of  "reasoning  for  the  facts  of 
observation,  —  had  been  present  at 
the  giving  of  sight  to  the  blind  and 
hearing  to  the  deaf.  They  had  seen 
the  lame  freed  from  their  infirmity, 
the  sick  healed,  the  dead  raised, 
and  those  possessed  of  evil  spirits 
restored  to  sanity   and  self-control 


MATTHEW    XI. 


215 


27  it  seemed  good  in  thy  sight.  All  things  are  delivered  unto  me 
of  my  Father ;  and  no  man  knoweth  the  Son  but  the  Father ; 
neither  knoweth  any  man  the  Father,  save  the  Son,  and  he  to 

28  whomsoever  the  Son  will  reveal  him.     Come  unto  me  all  ye 

29  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.  Take 
my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me  ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly 

30  in  heart;  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls.  For  my  yoke 
is  easy,  and  my  burden  is  light. 


by  His  word.  They  continually  had 
wondered  at  the  'gracious '  words 
which  proceeded  out  of  his  mouth. 
Tiiey  were  full  of  expectation  and 
reverence  and  adniiratiou  and  of 
love.  And  they  had  gone  out  tell- 
ing just  what  they  had  seen  and 
heard,  just  as,  at  the  time,  it  had 
impressed  their  receptive  minds  and 
moved  their  hearts.  The  name  of 
their  Master  was  continually  upon 
their  tongues,  and,  by  the  power  of 
the  Spirit  of  Jesus,  their  whole  being 
became,  for  the  time,  merged  in 
his;  they  were  one  with  liim,  and, 
in  his  name,  they  had  performed  his 
works.  Now  they  were  full  of  joy, 
and  said,  '  Lord,  even  the  devils  are 
subject  to  us,  through  thy  name.' 
And  Jesus  himself  rejoiced  in  spirit, 
thankfully  acknowledging  the  wis- 
dom which  had  led,  not  the  lettered 
and  logical,  not  pre-occupied  and, 
trained  minds,  not  the  Pharisee  or 
Sadducee,  but  the  fishermen  of 
Galilee,  —  the  Seventy,  and  such  as 
they,  —  to  be  at  first*  his  followers 
and  witnesses  to  receive  the  true  im- 
pression of  Him,  and  to  give  it  un- 
changed to  others,  —  that  the  world 
might  have  transmitted  to  it,  not  a 
plan,  a  philosophy  and  abstract  sys- 
tem, but  a  Avhole,  concrete  Gospel 
of  salvation."  27.  All 

things  are  delivered  unto  me 
of  my  Father]  "  I  have  been 
instructed  in  all  by  my  Father." 
Norton.  "  My  Father  hath  impart- 
ed everything  to  me."  Campbell. 
"  All  things  appertaining  to  my 
office  are  delivered  to  me  of  my 
Father."  Whitby.  Of  these  trans- 
lations Campbell's  is  the  most  ex- 
act, the  Avord  "  imparted  "  bearing 
the  double  meaning,  delivered  and 
taught^  which  belongs  to  the  original 


TrapcboOr).  and  no  man 

knoweth  the  Son  but  the  Fa- 
ther] The  blindness  of  most  com- 
mentators to  the  explicit  assertion 
of  Jesus  here  is  very  remarkable. 
There  is  no  more  distinct,  unequivo- 
cal, and  unqualified  assertion  in  the 
New  Testament.  And  yet,  in  di- 
rect opposition  to  it,  creeds  have 
been  formed,  defining  the  meta- 
physical nature  of  Christ,  and  en- 
forcing their  distinctions  on  a  sub- 
ject which  Jesus  expressly  declares 
that  no  man  understands,  as  the 
only  condition  of  church-membei- 
ship  in  this  world  or  of  salvation 
in  the  world  to  come.  It  Avould  be 
difficult  to  find  a  more  aiidacious 
and  presumptuous  violation  of  the 
words  of  Jesus  than  the  Athana- 
sian  Creed,  with  its  thrice  repeated 
curses  against  those  who  do  not  re- 
ceive its  doctrines.  Jesus  here  de- 
clares, that,  while  the  Son  reveals 
the  Father,  his  own  nature  is  not 
known  except  by  the  Father.  He 
reflects  the  image  of  God,  as  the 
perfect  mirror  reflects  the  sky  so 
entirely  that  it  remains  itself"  un- 
seen. 29.  loAvly  in  heart] 
"  This  expression  describes  the 
humility  of  the  Redeemer,  as  in 
entire  accordance  Avith  the  bent  of 
his  holy  Avill,  and  originating  in  the 
very  depth  of  his  heart;  hence  hu- 
mility appears  in  Him  as  the  cheer- 
ful result  of  free  choice."  Olshau- 
sen.  Poverty  of  spirit  comes  from 
a  sense  of  want;  loAvliness  of  heart 
arises  from  a  cheerful,  unquestion- 
ing, and  almost  unconscious  sub- 
mission to  the  Avill  of  God ;  or  rather 
it  comes  from  so  living  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God,  that  his  love  reaches 
into  the  soul,  and  calls  out  its 
powers  in  hai-fnony  with  his  Avill. 


216  MATTHEW   Xll.    1-14. 


CHAPTER     XII. 

1-14.  —  Christ's  View  of  the  Sabbath. 

It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  get  from  the  Gospels  a 
clear  idea  of  the  order  of  events,  or  the  length  of  time 
that  elapsed  between  different  events.  The  expression, 
"then,"  or  "at  that  time,"  which  recurs  frequently  in 
Matthew,  does  not,  as  in  our  language,  indicate  that  what 
is  now  to  be  related  belongs  to  the  same  occasion  with 
that  which  has  gone  immediately  before,  but  rather,  that  it 
belongs  to  a  different  time  and  occasion.  It  is  merely  a 
transition  clause,  nearly  equivalent  to  the  phrase,  "  and 
it  came  to  pass,"  or  "  about  that  time."  "  It  came  to 
pass  in  those  days"  (Matthew  iii.  1)  applies  to  an  event 
which  took  place  after  an  interval  of  thirty  years. 

1-8.  According  to  a  humane  provision  of  the  Mosaic 
law  (Deut.  xxiii.  25),  those  who  were  passing  through 
a  neighbor's  field  were  allowed  to  pluck  the  ears  of  grain 
with  their  hand,  though  not  to  use  a  sickle.  Dr.  Robinson 
says,  that  when  near  Hebron,  passing  by  the  fields  of 
ripening  wheat,  "  We  had  here  a  beautiful  illustration  of 
Scripture.  Our  Arabs  *were  an  hungered,'  and  going 
into  the  fields,  they  'plucked  the  ears  of  corn,  and  did 
eat,  rubbing  them  in  their  hands.'  On  being  questioned, 
they  said  this  was  an  old  custom,  and  no  one  would  speak 
against  it."  The  offence  of  the  disciples  consisted,  not  in 
taking  the  grain,  but  in  doing  it  on  the  Sabbath.  "  He 
that  reaps  on  the  Sabbath,"  says  a  Jewish  authority  quoted 
by  Lightfoot,  "though  never  so  little,  is  guilty.  And  to 
pluck  the  ears  of  corn  is  a  kind  of  reaping ;  and  who- 
soever   plucks    anything    from    the    springing    of  his    own 


MATTHEW   XII.    9-14.  217 

fruit  is  guilty,  under  the  name  of  a  reaper."  It  was  to 
sweep  awaj  all  sophistries  of  this  kind,  and  to  re-establish 
the  substance  and  spirit  of  the  law  in  the  place  of  the 
trifling  and  superstitious  observances  which  had  grown 
out  of  it,  that  Jesus,  in  this  instance,  replies  to  the  fault- 
finders by  facts,  which  they  as  Jews  must  admit  to  be 
right,  and  then  (verse  8,  Mark  ii.  27)  lays  down  the  true 
principle  by  which  all  ceremonial  rites  and  institutions 
are  to  be  interpreted.  1.  Necessity  knows  no  laws  of  this 
kind,  and  cannot  be  bound  by  their  authority.  Have  ye 
not  read,  he  asks,  how  David  (1  Sam.  xxi.  6)  and  those 
who  were  with  him,  when  driven  by  hunger,  took  bread, 
which  by  the  law  (Ex.  xxix.  33)  only  the  priests  were 
allowed  to  eat?  2.  Where  the  worship  of  God  requires 
the  violation  of  the  Sabbath,  the  lesser  should  yield  to 
the  greater.  The  form  must  give  way,  that  the  sub- 
stance may  be  retained.  "  Have  ye  not  read  in  the  law," 
(Num.  xxviii.  9,  10,)  he  says,  addressing  them  still  as 
Jews,  "  that  on  the  Sabbath  days  the  priests  in  the  temple 
profane  the  temple,  and  are  guiltless  ?  And  I  say  unto 
you,  that  something  greater  than  the  temple  is  here."  He 
then  (Mark  ii.  27)  lays  down  the  great  principle  by  which 
all  these  rites  are  to  be  determined.  "  The  Sabbath  was 
made  for  man,  and  not  man  for  the  Sabbath.  Wherever, 
therefore,  it  interferes  with  man's  highest  good,  its  severity 
must  be  relaxed.  "  If,"  he  adds,  "  ye  had  recognized  the 
meaning  and  the  authority  of  the  divine  precept,"  (Hosea 
vi.  6,)  '  Mercy  is  more  to  me  than  sacrifice,'  ye  would  not, 
as  you  are  now  doing,  condemn  the  innocent."  The  Son  of 
Man  has  power  to  regulate  the  observance  even  of  the 
Sabbath-day. 

9-14.  On  another  occasion  (another  Sabbath,  Luke 
vi.  9)  he,  under  the  general  principle  already  quoted  from 
Mark,  brought  up  a  third  case,  not  wholly  distinct  per- 
haps from  the  first,  in  which  the  letter  of  the  law  is  to 
be  relaxed,  and  its  spirit  observed  by  works  of  charity 
19 


218  MATTHEW    XII.    9-14. 

and  mercy.  There  was  present  in  the  synagogue  a  man 
whose  right  hand  was  withered.  The  Pharisees  were 
eagerly  watching,  with  the  hope  that  they  might  catch 
him  violating  the  law.  They  ask  him,  therefore,  whether 
it  is  allowable  to  perform  cures  on  the  Sabbath  !  Jesus, 
knowing  their  thoughts  (Luke  vi.  8),  asked  the  man  to 
rise  up  and  stand  in  the  midst,  which  he  did.  Then,  in 
reply  to  their  question,  he  asked,  which  of  the  two  is 
allowable  on  the  Sabbath,  to  do  good  or  to  do  evil,  to 
save  life  or  to  kill  ?  If  any  one  among  you  have  one 
sheep,  and  it  fall  into  a  pit  on  the  Sabbath,  will  he  not 
lay  hold  on  it  and  lift  it  out  ?  But  is  not  a  man  of  far 
more  consequence  than  a  sheep  ?  So  that  it  is  lawful 
to  do  well  on  the  Sabbath.  They,  unable  to  answer  him, 
were  silent.  And  Jesus,  having  looked  round  on  them 
with  anger,  being  grieved  at  the  hardness  of  their  hearts 
(Mark  iii.  5),  directed  the  man  to  stretch  forth  his  hand. 
And  he  stretched  it  forth ;  and  it  was  restored  whole  as 
the  other.  The  principle  on  which  Jesus  here  reasoned 
is,  that  it  is  a  sin  to  neglect  the  opportunity  to  do  a 
good  deed,  and  therefore  works  of  mercy  must  not  be 
neglected  even  on  the  Sabbath.  He  has  thus  clearly 
taught,  1.  that  a  man's  own  necessities,  2.  that  the  offices 
of  public  worship,  and  3.  that  works  of  charity,  may  justify 
what  would  otherwise  be  a  violation  of  the  Sabbath. 

Jesus  is  recorded  to  have  performed  cures  on  the  Sab- 
bath at  seven  different  times ;  —  the  cure  of  the  demoniac 
(Mark  i.  21)  ;  of  Peter's  wife's  mother  (Mark  i.  29)  ;  of 
the  impotent  man  (John  v.  9)  ;  of  the  man  born  blind 
(John  ix.  14)  ;  of  the  woman  with  a  spirit  of  infirmity 
(Luke  xiii.  10-17)  ;  of  the  man  who  had  a  dropsy  (Luke 
xiv.  1)  ;  besides  the  one  related  above.  Unquestionably 
one  object  which  he  had  in  performing  so  many  miracles 
on  the  Sabbath,  was  to  do  away  the  narrow  superstitious 
formalities  in  which  that  merciful  institution  had  become 
incrusted,  and  by  which  its  beneficent  design  was  per- 
verted or  impaired  and  destroyed. 


MATTHEW   XII.   14-37.  219 


14-37.  —  Hatred  of  the  Pharisees  against  Jesus. 

14-21.  Here  is  the  first  allusion  to  any  conspiracy 
against  his  life  by  the  enemies  of  Jesus.  It  was  evident 
that  he  was  producing  a  decided  and  powerful  impression 
on  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  that  he  carefully  abstained 
from  any  violation  of  the  law,  yet  his  principles  of  inter- 
pretation, and  the  feelings  with  which  he  regarded  its 
observances,  were  diametrically  opposite  to  theirs.  In  this 
case,  feeling  the  pungency  of  his  rebuke,  and  unable  to 
say  a  word  in  reply  to  his  reasoning,  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees  were  (Luke  vi.  11)  inflamed  with  rage,  and 
took  counsel  (Mark  iii.  6)  with  the  Herodians,  who  were 
probably  the  adherents  of  Herod,  and  rather  political  than 
religious  partisans,  how  they  might  destroy  him.  Jesus, 
knowing  their  designs,  withdrew  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee, 
where  immense  multitudes  gathered  round  him  from  all 
the  neighboring  country,  —  from  Jerusalem,  from  Idumea 
and  beyond  the  Jordan  on  the  east,  and  from  Tyre  and 
Sidon  on  the  west.  This  would  only  increase  the  appre- 
hensions and  malice  of  his  enemies.  Jesus  did  all  that 
he  could  consistently  with  the  great  purpose  of  his  ministry 
to  avoid  notoriety.  He  severely  charged  those  on  whom 
his  healing  miracles  were  wrought  not  to  make  him  known. 


22-37.  —  Casting  out  Satan  by  Satan. 

About  this  time,  when  the  popular  mind  was  wrought 
up  to  a  high  pitch  of  expectation  and  excitement,  there 
was  brought  to  Jesus  a  demoniac,  blind  and  dumb,  whom 
he  healed,  so  that  the  blind  and  dumb  both  spake  and 
saw.  There  is  nothing  mentioned  that  would  indicate  in- 
sanity, nor  is  it  possible  to  discover  what  the  symptoms 
were  that  marked  the  case  as  one  of  demoniacal  posses- 
sion. It  seems,  however,  to  have  been  regarded  as  an 
extraordinary  case,  and  the  cure  caused  an  unusual  sensa- 


220  MATTHEW    XII.    22-37. 

tion  of  astonishment  among  the  multitudes,  who  ask  if  this 
is  not  tlie  Son  of  David,  i.  e.  the  Messiah  ?  Such  a  sugges- 
tion could  not  be  endured  by  the  Pharisees.  In  the  ex- 
tremity of  their  malignant  jealousy  and  scorn,  hardening 
themselves  against  the  holiness  of  his  life  and  the  merciful 
character  of  his  acts,  they  contemptuously  reply,  that  he 
does  not  cast  out  demons  except  by  Beelzebub,  the  prince 
of  demons.  He,  knowing  all  that  was  passing  in  their 
minds,  overthrew  their  taunt  by  reasoning  which  they 
from  their  point  of  view  could  not  answer,  and  then,  31,  32, 
exposed  their  unpardonable  wickedness  in  the  severest 
sentence  that  ever  fell  from  his  lips. 

The  21st  verse  is  one  of  some  difficulty.  "  If  I  by 
Beelzebub  cast  out  demons,  by  whom  do  your  children, 
i.  e.  your  disciples,  cast  them  out  ?  wherefore  they  shall 
be  your  judges."  There  is  no  doubt  that  there  were 
at  that  time  men  who  practised  among  the  Jews  the  pre- 
tended art  of  expelling  demons.  Josephus,  Antiq.,  VIII. 
2.  5,  appeals  to  an  extraordinary  proof  of  this  fact  which 
one  of  these  exorcists  had  given  before  Vespasian  in  the 
presence  of  a  part  of  the  Roman  army.  There  was  a 
belief  among  the  Jews  that  these  men  actually  expelled 
demons  by  their  art,  and  it  was  from  this  their  point 
of  view  that  Jesus  addressed  his  argument  to  the  Phari- 
sees. If  I,  in  my  cures,  which  shake  to  its  very  centre 
the  dominion  of  Satan,  am  in  league  with  him,  by  whom 
do  your  disciples  perform  their  cures?  Let  them  answer 
the  question,  and  be  your  judges.  Jesus  was  doing  nothing 
more  than  they  were  pretending  to  do.  Why  then  should 
he  be  adjudged  as  guilty  of  a  greater  crime  ? 

But  does  not  he,  in  using  such  language,  countenance 
the  belief  that  they  had  the  power  to  cast  out  demons  ? 
This  brings  up  a  very  interesting  and  important  subject 
of  inquiry.  How  far  could  a  being  with  the  more  than 
human  endowments  and  knowledge  which  Jesus  possessed, 
looking  through  men's  thoughts,  and  the  shadows  around 


MATTHEW   XII.    22-37.  221 

them,  be  among  the  Jews,  and  converse  freely  with  them, 
without  suffering  their  false  ideas  and  conceptions  to  pass 
uncorrected  ?  Parents  are  every  day  pursuing  this  course 
with  their  children,  knowing  that  it  would  be  a  vain 
thing  to  try  to  correct  them  in  regard  to  many  false  ideas 
which  they  are  not  yet  able  to  understand,  but  which  they 
will  outgrow  in  the  natural  progress  of  their  minds.  It 
is  not  by  specific  corrections  now,  but  by  the  gradual 
unfolding  and  enlightenment  of  their  minds,  that  they  are 
to  be  set  free  from  these  mistaken  notions.  So  Christ 
came,  not  to  correct  specific  errors,  one  by  one,  but  to 
brinji;  into  the  world  those  g-reat  elements  of  moral  and 
religious  life  and  thought,  which,  as  they  are  received 
and  applied,  may  lift  men  up  above  their  errors,  and  set 
them  free  from  their  mistaken  ideas.  In  order  to  gain 
access  to  them,  he  must  meet  them  as  they  are,  and  reason 
with  them  from  premises  which  they  believe  to  be  true. 
By  seeking  to  correct  their  established  convictions  and 
habits  of  thought  in  regard  to  common  and  comparatively 
unimportant  matters,  he  would  rouse  their  prejudices,  and 
close  their  minds  against  him  in  his  more  important  influ- 
ences and  instructions.  Their  errors,  therefore,  he  some- 
times uses  as  illustrations  or  arguments  by  which  to  intro- 
duce into  their  minds  truths  which,  once  lodged  there,  and 
acting  through  their  lives,  shall  at  length  set  them  free, 
and  drive  out  the  very  errors  by  which  they  gained  ad- 
mittance. It  is  evident  that  this  must  essentially  modify 
the  form  of  any  revelation  from  God  to  men,  in  its  adap- 
tation to  the  existing  wants  and  limitations  of  their  nature. 
The  reasoning  of  this  whole  discourse  proceeds  in  this 
way.  It  meets  the  Pharisees  on  their  own  ground,  with- 
out one  word  to  show  whether  that  ground  be  tenable  or 
not.  In  this  way,  he  brings  before  them  the  momentous 
truth  which  it  is  his  purpose  to  declare.  If  the  very 
centre  of  Satan's  kingdom  is  shaken  by  these  works  of 
mine,  and  if,  as  I  have  shown  from  your  own  point  of 
19* 


222  MATTHEW   XII.    31,    32. 

view,  I  have  done  these  works,  not  by  the  aid  of  Beelze- 
bub, but,  28,  by  the  spirit,  and  Luke  xi.  20,  -the  finger 
of  God,  then  in  this  overthrow  of  the  powers  of  darkness 
you  may  be  sure  that  the  kingdom  of  God  has  come 
upon  you  unawares.  For  how  can  the  house  of  the  strong 
man,  thoroughly  armed  and  on  his  guard  (Luke  xi.  21),  be 
entered,  unless  a  stronger  than  he  overcome,  and  disarm, 
and  bind  him  ?  But,  in  this  warfare,  he  continues,  he 
who  is  not  with  me  is  against  me.  "  Wherefore,"  he  says, 
31,  32,  referring  to  the  whole  course  of  reasoning  by  which 
he  has  proved  that  these  are  the  works  of  God  against 
which  they  have  set  themselves,  —  "  wherefore,  though  every 
sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven  to  men,  yet  blasphemy 
against    the    Holy   Spirit   shall    not    be    forgiven    to    men, 

either  in  this  world   [atw^t,  —  <^on']  or  the  world 

to  come." 

31,  32.  —  The  Uxpaedonable  Sin. 

What  is  the  sin  thus  fearfully  and  hopelessly  condemned  ? 
All  enlightened  modern  commentators,  we  believe,  agree 
that  "it  is  not  one  particular  act  of  sin  which  is  here 
condemned,  but  a  state  of  sin,  and  that  a  wilful,  deter- 
mined opposition"  to  what  is  highest  and  holiest.  He 
who  speaks  against  the  Son  of  Man  may  do  it  ignorantly, 
or  through  traditional  prejudices,  or  from  a  sudden  im- 
pulse, and  may  repent  and  be  forgiven.  "  But  he,"  to 
use  the  words  of  the  Greek  father  Euthymius,  "  who,  seeing 
my  Divine  w^orks  which  God  alone  can  perform,  ascribes 
them  to  Beelzebub  as  you  now  do,  and  so  blasphemes 
against  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  the  Divinity  itself  (for  he  now 
calls  it  the  Holy  Spirit),  —  he,  plainly  determined  and  fixed 
on  what  is  evil,  and  knowingly  insulting  God,  sins  with- 
out excuse,  and  shall  not  be  forgiven."  His  sin  is  not 
one  of  impulse,  ignorance,  or  weakness.  But  he  has  gone 
on  knowingly  sinning  and  hardening  himself  against  the 
Holy  Spirit,  maligning  its  influences,  and  attributing  them 


MATTHEW  XII.   38-50.  223 

to  a  diabolical  agency,  till  he  has  reached  such  a  degree 
of  hardihood  in  wickedness  that  he  is  beyond  all  hope 
of  repentance  or  amendment,  and  therefore  beyond  all  hope 
of  forgiveness.  The  settled  frame  of  his  mind  is  so  wil- 
fully and  knowingly  turned  against  God  in  his  plainest 
and  holiest  influences  and  teachings,  that  he  has  made  re- 
pentance, and  through  it  reformation,  an  impossibility  to 
him,  whether  in  this  world  Ijcboii]  or  the  world  to  come. 

Jesus  then  turns  again  to  their  blasphemous  charge 
against  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  ascribing  actions  such  as  they 
had  witnessed  to  the  Prince  of  demons.  Do  at  least,  he 
says,  be  consistent  with  yourselves.  Allow  either  that  the 
tree  and  fruit  are  both  good,  or  that  they  are  both  bad 
together.  The  tree  is  known  by  its  fruit.  But,  34,  how, 
on  this  principle,  can  we  expect  anything  good  from  you, 
since,  as  is  the  heart,  so  must  the  words  be.  So  true 
is  this  law  of  our  nature,  so  is  even  the  careless,  idle 
word  imbued  with  the  spirit,  and  so  does  it  indicate  the 
disposition,  from  which  it  comes,  that,  "I  say  unto  you, 
for  every  idle  word  that  men  shall  speak,  they  shall  give 
account  in  the  day  of  judgment."  The  careless,  idle  words 
which  men  utter  are  perhaps  the  truest  mdex  to  their 
character. 


38-50.  —  Further  Remarks  of  Jesus. 

38-40.  On  another  occasion  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
in  a  captious,  unbelieving  spirit,  asked  of  him  a  sign. 
He  knew  their  motives,  and  declared  to  them  that  no 
sign  should  be  given  except  that  of  the  prophet  Jonah, 
as  foreshadowing  his  own  death.  It  is  remarkable,  as 
Dr.  Furness  has  said,  that  whenever  a  sign  was  asked 
of  Jesus,  he  invariably  referred  to  his  death,  "  as  the 
greatest  sign  that  he  could  possibly  give  of  his  truth." 
(John  vi.  30,  51.)  The  reference  to  the  book  of  Jonah 
proves  nothing  conclusively  respecting  the  view  that  Jesus 


224  MATTHEW   XII.    46-50. 

might  have  of  it,  whether  as  an  historical  narrative,  or  an 
instructive  allegory,  framed  like  some  of  his  own  parables, 
to  set  forth  important  lessons  of  truth  and  duty. 

He  then,  41  -  45,  as  he  had  done  twice  before  in  different 
connections,  spoke  of  the  way  in  which  the  generation  must 
be  condemned  by  those  who  had  gone  before,  if  they 
should  slight  the  greater  privileges  which  were  granted 
to  them.  And  finally  he  likens  them  to  a  demoniac  who 
is  for  a  time  apparently  cured,  but  with  a  relapse  of 
his  malady  is  in  a  far  worse  condition  than  before.  The 
picture,  which  is  in  accordance  with  the  prevalent  ideas 
of  the  Jews,  is  full  of  life  and  interest.  The  unclean 
spirit,  cast  out  of  its  comfortable  abode,  wanders,  43,  into 
dry,  i.  e.  desert,  uncultivated,  and  desolate  places,  seeking 
rest,  and  finding  none.  And  at  last,  tired  of  this  he 
joins  to  himself  seven  other  spirits  worse  than  himself, 
and  finding  his  old  abode  empty,  swept,  and  furnished, 
they  enter  in  and  dwell  there.  So  with  this  genera- 
tion. However  the  Jews  may  have  been  freed  for  a 
time  by  their  afflictions  from  their  old  idolatries,  yet  the 
old  spirit  and  others  far  worse  had  returned,  and  now 
their  last  end  (xxiii.  45)  is  worse  than  all  that  had  gone 
before.  The  same  remarks  aj^ply  to  an  individual,  re- 
formed for  a  season,  and  then  relapsing  into  his  old  sins, 
with  others  still  worse  added  to  them. 


46  -  50.  —  Jesus  and  his  Mother. 

Any  impression  that  we  might  get  here  of  apparent 
harshness  in  the  conduct  of  Jesus  towards  his  mother 
will  be  removed  by  attending  to  all  the  circumstances. 
Not  only  was  the  house  where  he  sat  full  of  people,  but 
probably,  as  in  another  case  (Mark  ii.  2)  the  way  of 
approach  to  the  door  was  crowded,  so  that  those  who 
were  out  could  not  get  at  him  (Luke  viii.  19)  on  account 
of  the   multitude.      While   he    was   in    the   midst   of  his 


MATTHEW   XII.   46-50.  225 

weighty  and  impressive  discourse,  word  was  passed  in  to 
him  (Luke  viii.  20)  that  his  mother  and  brethren  were 
without  desiring  to  speak  to  him.  Immediately  he  turned 
this  incident  into  an  occasion  of  teaching  the  higher  spirit- 
ual relationships  which  he  had  come  to  establish,  and  asked, 
"  Who  is  my  mother,  and  who  are  my  brethren  ?  "  Then 
looking  round  about  on  those  who  were  sitting  around 
him  (Mark  iii.  34)  he  stretched  forth  his  hand  towards  his 
disciples,  and  said,  "  Behold  my  mother  and  my  brethren. 
For  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father  who  is 
in  heaven,  he  is  my  brother,  and  sister,  and  mother." 

We  learn  from  John  vii.  5,  that  his  brethren  did  not 
believe  in  him,  and  Mark,  iii.  21,  tells  us  that  when  his 
friends  or  relatives  heard  how  he  was  situated  and  what 
he  was  doing,  they  went  out  to  lay  hold  on  him ;  for 
they  said,  "He  is  beside  himself."  They  evidently  at 
that  time  did  not  at  all  understand  him.  It  is  more 
difficult  to  enter  into  the  feelings  of  his  mother.  His 
past  history  and  his  character,  as  it  showed  itself  to  her 
in  the  intimate  relations  of  life,  must,  we  infer  from  the 
few  ghmpses  that  are  given  to  us  (Luke  ii.  41-52,  John 
ii.1-12)  have  been  such  as  to  fill  her  with  wonder  and 
expectation.  She  pondered  these  things  in  her  heart.  But, 
as  a  human  being,  she  doubtless  had  her  alternations  of 
feeling.  She  knew  not  how  his  work  should  be  accom- 
plished or  what  it  was.  When  her  relatives  and  possibly 
even  her  own  sons  declared  that  he  was  beside  him- 
self, her  maternal  feelings  must  have  been  touched,  and, 
without  sympathizing  with  them  in  their  unbelief,  she  may 
have  been  painfully  moved  by  vague  apprehensions  of 
impending  danger,  and  hopes  of  coming  greatness,  so  that 
she  went  with  them  to  ease  her  anxieties  by  seeing  him, 
and  perhaps  to  persuade  him  to  withdraw  himself  for  a 
season  from  the  perils  that  were  gathering  round  him. 
If  such  were  her  feelings,  nothing  could  do  more  to  as- 
suage her  feai's,  awaken  her  reverence,  and  re-establish 


226  MATTHEW    XII. 

her  faith,  than  the  words  here  uttered,  which  in  their 
calm  dignity  lifted  him  above  all  earthly  interests  and 
relationships. 


NOTES. 


At  that  time  Jesus  went  on  the  sabbath- day  through  the 
corn;  and  his  disciples  were  an  hungered,  and  began  to  pluck 
the  ears  of  corn,  and  to  eat.     But  when  the  Pharisees  saw  it,   2 
they  said  unto  him.  Behold  thy  disciples  do  that  which  is  not 
lawful  to  do  upon  the  sabbath-day.     But  he  said  unto  them,   3 
Have  ye  not  read  what  David  did,  when  he  was  an  hungered, 
and  they  that  were  with  him  ?  how  he  entered  into  the  house   4 
of  God,  and  did  eat  the  shew-bread,  which  was  not  lawful  for 
him  to  eat,  neither  for  them  which  were  with  him,  but  only  for 
the  priests  ?     Or  have  ye  not  read  in  the  law,  how  that  on  the   6 
sabbath-days  the  priests  in  the  temple  profane  the  sabbath,  and 
are  blameless  ?     But  I  say  unto  you,  that  in  this  place  is  one   6 
greater  than  the  temple.     But  if  ye  had  known  what  this  mean-   7 
eth,  "I  will  have   mercy   and  not   sacrifice,"  ye  would   not 
have  condemned  the  guiltless.     For  the  Son  of  man  is  Lord  8 
even  of  the  sabbath-day. 

2.  when  the    Pharisees  saiv  Strictly    speaking,  there    was    no 

it]     They  must  have  been  follow-  house  of  God  at  that  time,  but  only 

ing  him  'through  the  fields  in  that  a  tent  in   which   the   Ark  of   the 

hvpocritical    spirit    of    ceremonial  Covenant  was  kept.     But,  as  in  Ex. 

observance  that  would  be  ready  to  xxiii.  19,  the  tent  was   sometimes 

measure  his   steps  after  him,  and  called  the  house  of  God. 

find  it  out,  if  he  should  walk  one  which  is  not  lawful  for  him 

vard  bevond  the  prescribed  length  to  eat]     Ex.   xxix.   33.     For  tlie 

of  a  sabbath-day's   journev.     this  s/?ew-6rert(Z,  see  Leviticus  xxiv.  5 -8. 

whole    chapter, 'down   to  the  46th  From  this  reference  and  verse  8,  as 

verse,  is  taken  up  in  showing  this  well   as   from   a  Jewish    authority 

trait  of  the  Pharisees,  and  the  terri-  cited    by  Lightfoot,  it  is   rendered 

ble  severity  with  which  it  was  re-  probable    that    David    went    there 

buked  by  Jesus.  3.  Have  either  on  the   sabbath,  or  just  as 

ye    not    read]      "  At    that   very  the  sabbath  was  going  out,  Avhich 

time  of  year   Leviticus  was  being  would  make  his  example  still  more 

read  on  sabbaths,  the  book  in  Avhich  pertinent  in  this  case.  ^      8. 

there  occur  so  many  precepts  as  to  for  the  Son  of  man]     "  Why  is 

sacrifices  which  were  required  to  be  Christ  called  the  Son  of  man,  but 

performed,   even  on  the  sabbath."  just  because  he  represents  humanity 

BeugeL  4.  house  of  God]  as  a  whole,  —  because,  as  a  second 


MATTHEW   XII. 


227 


9      And  when  he  was  departed  thence,  he  went  into  their  syna- 

10  gogue.  And,  behold,  there  was  a  man  which  had  his  hand 
Avithered.     And  they  asked  him  saying,  Is  it  lawful  to  heal  on 

11  the  sabbath-days  ?  that  they  might  accuse  him.  And  he  said 
unto  them,  What  man  shall  there  be  among  you  that  shall 
have  one  sheep,  and  if  it  fall  into  a  pit  on  the  sabbath-day, 

12  will  he  not  lay  hold  on  it,  and  lift  it  out  ?  How  much  then  is 
a  man  better  than  a  sheep !     Wherefore  it  is  lawful  to  do  well 

13  on  the  sabbath-days.  Then  saith  he  to  the  man,  Stretch  forth 
thine  hand.     And  he  stretched  it  forth ;  and  it  was  restored 

14  whole,  like  as  the  other.  Then  the  Pharisees  went  out,  and 
held  a  council  against  him,  how  they  might  destroy  him. 

15  But  Avhen  Jesus  kncAv  it,  he  withdrew  himself  from  thence ; 
and  great  multitudes  followed  him  ;  and  he  healed  them  all, 

16  and  charged  them  that  they  should  not  make  him  known ; 

17  that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was   spoken  by  Esaias  the 

18  prophet,  saying :  "  Behold  my  servant,  whom  I  have  chosen, 
my  beloved,  in  whom  my  soul  is  well  pleased ;  I  will  put  my 
spirit  upon  him,  and  he  shall  show  judgment  to  the  Gentiles. 


Adam,  he  bears  in  himself  and  sets 
up  a  new  humanity?  This  is  the 
key  to  the  Avhole  statement,  ac- 
cording to  which,  in  the  first  place, 
]\Iark  ii.  27,  as  the  words  stand, 
contain  a  truth  as  profound  as  it 
is  simple.  So,  in  the  Talmud,  R. 
Jonatlian  says,  literally,  '  The  sab- 
bath is  in  your  own  hands,  not  you 
in  its  hands,  for  it  is  said:  The  sab- 
bath is  for  you.'  ( Ex.  xvi.  29 ;  Ezek. 
XX.  12.)  It  is,  according  to  God's 
design,  an  ordinance  and  institution 
of  mercy  for  the  good  of  man,  ap- 
pointed, in  the  first  instance,  for 
rest  and  refreshment  (Deut.  v.  14; 
Ex.  xxiii.  12);  and  then  fm-ther  for 
blessing  and  sanctification."  Stier. 
11.  and  lift  it  out] 
"  Our  Lord  evidently  asks  this  as  a 
thing  allowed  and  done  at  the  time 
when  he  spoke  ;  but  subsequently 
(perhaps,  suggests  Stier,  on  account 
of  these  words  of  Christ)  it  was 
forbidden  in  the  Gemara;  and  only 
permitted  to  lay  planks  for  the  beast 
to  come  out.''''     Alford.  15. 

and  great  multitndes]  The  pop- 
ulousness  of  Galilee  at  that  time, 
compared  with  what  it  is  at  present, 


was  very  great.  According  to  Jose- 
phus,  it  had  more  than  200  cities, 
the  least  of  which  contained  15,000 
inhabitants ;  and  the  whole  province 
contained  more  than  3,000,000  of 
people.  According  to  Strabo,  Gali- 
lee was  full  of  Egyptians,  Arabians,  • 
and  Phoenicians.  '(Lib.  XVL)  See 
Milman's  Hist.  Christianitv,  L  4. 

18-20.  "  This  quotation," 
says  Dr.  Palfrey,  "  from  the  proph- 
ecy of  Isaiah  (xlii.  1-4)  accords  pre- 
cisely with  neither  the  Hebrew  nor 
the  Septuagint."  The  Hebrew  is 
thus  translated  by  Dr.  Noyes: 
"Behold  my  servant,  whom  I  uphold, 

My  chosen,ia  whom  my  soul  delighteth; 

I  have  put  my  spirit  upon  him  ; 

He  shall  give  laws  to  the  nations. 

He  shall  not  cry  aloud,  nor  raise   a 
clamor, 

Nor  cause  his  voice  to  be  heard  in  the 
street. 

The  bruised  reed  he  shall  not  break, 

And  the  glimmering  flax  he  shall  not 
quench ; 

He  shall  give  laws  according  to  truth. 

He  shall  not  fail,  nor  become  weary, 

Until  he  shall  have  established  laws  in 
the  earth, 

And  distant  nations  shall  wait  for  his 
instruction." 


228  MATTHEW  XII. 

He  shall  not  strive,  nor  cry,  neither  shall  any  man  hear  his  19 
voice  in  the  streets ;  a  bruised  reed  shall  he  not  break,  and  20 
smoking  flax  shall  he  not  quench ;  till  he  send  forth  judgment 
unto  victory.     And  in  his  name  shall  the  Gentiles  trust."  21 

Then  was  brought  unto  him  one  possessed  with  a  devil,  blind  22 
and  dumb ;  and  he  healed  him,  insomuch  that  the  blind  and 
dumb  both  spake  and  saw.     And  all  the  people  were  amazed,  23 
and  said,  Is  not  this  the  son  of  David  ?     But  when  the  Phari-  24 
sees  heard  it,  they  said,  This  fellow  doth  not  cast  out  devils, 
but  by  Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  the  devils.     And  Jesus  knew  25 
their  thoughts,  and  said  unto  them,  Every  kingdom  divided 
against  itself  is  brought  to  desolation ;  and  every  city  or  house 
divided  against  itself  shall  not  stand.     And  if  Satan  cast  out  26 
Satan,  he  is  divided  against  himself;  how  shall  then  his  king- 
dom stand  ?     And  if  I  by  Beelzebub  cast  out  devils,  by  whom  27 
do  your  children  cast  them  out  ?     Therefore  they  shall  be  your 
judges.     But  if  I  cast  out  devils  by  the  spirit  of  God,  then  the  28 
kingdom  of  God  is  come  unto  you.     Or  else,  how  can  one  enter  29 
into  a  strong  man's  house,  and  spoil  his  goods,  except  he  first 
bind  the  strong  man ;    and  then  he  will  spoil  his  house.     He  30 
that  is  not  with  me  is  against  me  ;  and  he  that  gathereth  not 
with  me,  scattereth  abroad.     Wherefore  I  say  unto  you,  all  31 
manner  of  sin  and  blasphemy  shall  be  forgiven  unto  men ;  but 
the  blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  not  be  forgiven 

20.  a  bruised  reed t^e  Philistines  (2  Kings  i.  2).    The 

smoking  flax]  introduced  here  to  Jews  applied  it  to  the  prince  of 
sliow  the  merciful  and  compas-  devils,  as  the  most  contemptuous  of 
sionate  nature  of  Jesus  in  his  deal-  ^^^  names.  25.  their 
ing  with  the  broken-hearted  and  the  thoughts]  their  thoughts,  imagi- 
contrite.  Lightfoot,  however,  savs:  nations,  and  feelings;  i.  e.  he  knew 
"  He  shall  not  make  so  great  a  noise  the  secret  motives  from  which  thev 
as  is  made  from  the  breaking  of  a  ?poke,  Avhen  they  charged  him  witli 
reed  now  alreadv  bruised  and  half  doing  his  beneficent  and  divine 
broken,  or  from  the  hissing  of  smok-  works  with  a  diabolical  design,  and 
ing  flax  only,  when  water  is  thrown  ^y  the  aid  of  the  prince  of  devils, 
upon  it."  '  23.  Is  not  this  The  Greek  word,  evdvfir)(reis,  is 
the  son  of  David  ?]  A  name  much  stronger  and  more  compre- 
Avhich  evidently  among  the  Jews  hensive  than  the  EngUsh  word 
was  applied  to  the  Messiah  (ix.  27;  thoughts,  including  as  it  does  the 
XV.  22;  xxi.  9;  and  especiallv  xxii.  emotions  and  purposes  connected 
42),  24.  Beelzebul]  (for  with  the  thoughts.  28.  is 
such  is  the  established  reading  here,  come  unto  you]  "Wesley,  who 
as  well  as  x.  25)  means  Lord  of  avowedly  copied  from  Rengel,  ex- 
mire,  or  Lord  of  place,  as  Beelzebub  plains  the  passage:  "  The  kingdom 
does  Lord  of  flies.  It  was  the  name  of  God  is  come  upon  you  —  una- 
of  a  God  worshipped,  at  Ekron,  by  wares,  before  you  expected :  so  the 


MATTHEW   XII. 


229 


3i  unto  men.  And  whosoever  speaketh  a  word  against  the  Son 
of  man,  it  shall  be  forgiven  him ;  but  whosoever  speaketh 
against  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  shall  not  be  forgiven  him,  neither  in 

33  this  world,  neither  in  the  world  to  come.  Either  make  the 
tree  good,  and  his  fruit  good ;  or  else  make  the  tree  corrupt, 

34  and  his  fruit  corrupt ;  for  the  tree  is  known  by  his  fruit.  O 
generation   of  vipers,   how   can   ye,   being   evil,   speak   good 


word  implies."  32.  speak- 

eth  against  the   Holy  Ghost] 

"  This  probably  refers  to  the  Divine 
nature  of  Christ,  —  the  power  by 
wliich  he  Avrought  his  miracles. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  it  refers 
to  the  third  person  of  the  Trinity." 
Barnes.  "  It  was  blasphemy  against 
tlie  Spirit  of  God  to  ascribe  acts 
which  bore  the  manifest  impress  of 
the  Divine  Goodness  in  their  essen- 
tially beneficent  character  to  any 
other  source  but  the  Father  of 
Mercies."  Alilman.  "  Against  the 
Holy  Ghost  means  against  the  most 
direct  and  conclusive  testimony  by 

Avhicli  the  person is  entirely 

convinced,  and  consequently  sins 
with  the  most  complete  knowledge 
and  will  ;  and  this  is  the  idea  most 
essentially  belonging  to  the  unpar- 
donable sin It  is  committed 

when  the  man  knows,  with  entire 

conviction,  what  he  is  doing 

It  is  distinguished  from  every  other 
pardonable  sin  of  man  by  this,  that 
in  it  there  is  not  even  a  minimum 
of  Satanic  deceit  practised  upon  the 
understanding,  or  compulsion  of 
any  nature,  or  by  any  creature 
upon  the  will;  but  the  purely  evil 
is  willed,  spoken,  and  done  instead 
of  the  known  and  rejected  good,  the 
lie  as  such  instead  of  the  blas- 
phemed truth."     Stier. 

in  this  world,  neither  in  the 
world  to  come]  The  Avord  alcov 
(ceon),  which  is  here  translated 
woi^d,  can  be  rendered  by  no  cor- 
responding ord  in  our  language. 
It  means  a  period  of  time,  an  age, 
or  a  dispensation.  In  2  Tim.  i.  9 
we  read,  "  before  the  world  began," 
more  exactly,  "  before  the  worlds 
began,"  and  still  more  literally, 
"before  the  times  of  the  worlds," 
ages,  ce(ms.  In  1  Cor.  ii.  7  we  read  of 
20 


the  wisdom  "  which  God  ordained 
to  our  glory  before  the  tcorkls,''  i.  e. 
the  aeons,  ages,  or  dispensations. 
These  passages  imply  in  the  past  a 
succession  of  asons,  ages,  or  dispen- 
sations. Jesus  speaks  more  than 
once  (xiii.  39,  40,  49)  of  "the  end 
of  the  world  ;  "  more  exactly,  the 
winding  up  or  consummation  of  the 
a?on,  the  age,  or  dispen'sation  then 
existing.  In  Heb.  ix.  26  we  read, 
"  in  the  end  of  the  world,"  literally, 
at  "the  completion,"  or  "consum- 
mation of  the  ages."  As  the  word 
seon,  in  its  application  to  the  past 
and  present  condition  of  things  im- 
plies only  a  limited  duration  of 
time,  the  natural  inference  is  that 
in  its  application  to  the  future  con- 
dition of  things,  it  does  not  neces- 
sarily involve  the  idea  of  endless 
duration.  As  the  word  is  apjilicd 
to  the  past  in  the  plural  nunjjer, 
and  thus  denotes  a  succession  of 
aeons  in  the  past,  so  when  ap])lied 
to  the  future  in  the  plural  number 
(Eph.  ii.  7,  "in  the  a^ons,  or  ages 
which  are  to  come,")  it  in  like  man- 
ner denotes  a  succession  of  seons. 
These  ceons  thus  extend  from  the 
past  into  the  future,  each  one  at  its 
completion  giving  way  to  that  which 
is  to  succeed,  and  each,  whether  in 
the  past  or  the  future,  being  only 
one  in  the  succession  of  ages. 
When,  therefore,  we  read  in  the 
passage  before  us  of  a  sin  Avhicli 
shall  be  forgiven  neither  in  this 
world  (fBon)  nor  the  world  (a?on)  to 
come,  we  find  in  the  language  noth- 
ing that  necessarily  involves  the 
idea  of  eternity,  since  the  age  to 
come  may,  like" each  of  those  which 
have  gone  before,  at  length  fulfil  its 

Eurpose,  and   give   place  to   a  yet 
igher  dispensation  beyond.      See 
XXV.  46. 


230  MATTHEW   XII. 

things  ?    for  out  of  the   abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth 
speaketh.     A  good  man,  out  of  the  good  treasure  of  the  heart,  35 
bringeth  forth  good  things ;  and  an  evil  man,  out  of  the  evil 
treasure,  bringeth  forth  evil  things.     But  I  say  unto  you,  that  3G 
every  idle  word  that  men  shall  speak,  they  shall  give  account 
thereof  in  the  day  of  judgment.     For  by  thy  words  thou  shalt  37 
be  justified,  and  by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  condemned. 

Then  certain  of  the  Scribes  and  of  the  Pharisees  answered  38 
saying,  Master,  we  Avould  see  a  sign  from  thee.     But  he  an-  39 
swered  and  said  imto  them.  An  evil  and  adulterous  generation 
seeketh  after  a  sign ;  and  there  shall  no  sign  be  given  to  it, 
but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas.     For  as  Jonas  was  three  40 
days  and  three  nights  in  the  whale's  belly,  so  shall  the  Son  of 
man  be  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the  heart  of  the  earth. 
The  men  of  Nineveh  shall  rise  in  judgment  with  this  genera-  41 
tion,  and   shall   condemn  it ;    because  they  repented  at  the 
preaching  of  Jonas  ;  and,  behold,  a  greater  than  Jonas  is  here. 
The  queen  of  the  south  shall  rise  up  in  the  judgment  with  this  42 
generation,  and  shall  condemn  it ;  for  she  came  from  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth  to  hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon  ;  and, 

behold,  a  greater  than  Solomon  is  here. When  the  un-  43 

clean  spirit  is  gone  out  of  a  man,  he  walketh  through  dry 

36.  every  idle  Avord]  at  last  the  measure  of  iniquity  is 
There  is  no  authority  for  giving  any  full,  and  hopeless  ruin  ensues.  For 
worse  meaning  to  the  adjective,  the  same  thought  more  fully  cairied 
The  idle  woi*a  may  be  a  wicked,  out,  see  xxiii.  35.  43'.  When 
or  it  may  be  a  good,  word.  To  give  the  unclean  spirit  is  gone  out 
account  does  not  necessarily  imply  of  a  man]  Man,  the  individnal, 
condemnation.  The  meaning  is,  stands  here  for  the  Jewish  nation, 
that  for  everything  we  say,  down  who  are  represented  as  being  then 
even  to  our  idle  words,  we  are  to  sevenfold  worse  than  ever  before, 
be  held  responsible,  when  in  the  day  The  connection  Avith  the  previous 
of  reckoning  the  account  of  our  sentences  is  unbroken.  You  wicked 
lives  shall  be  rendered  tip.  men  seeking  a  sign,  shall  find  none 
40.  three  days  and  three  nights]  except  the  sign  of  the  prophet 
By  the  Hebrew  reckoning,  the  day  Jonah  ;  and  even  that,  wliile  it 
when  the  account  begins,  and  that  foreshadows  my  death,  shall  like- 
when  it  ends,  are  included  in  the  wise  testify  to  your  condemnation, 
mmiber  of  days.  "  A  day  and  a  as  will  also  the  ^ueen  of  the  South, 
night,"  says  a  Jewish  tradition.  But  what  better  could  be  expected? 
"  make  an  onah,  and  a  part  of  an  When  the  unclean  spirit  is  gone  out 
onah  is  as  the  whole."  41.  of  a  man,  and  the  man  fails  to  for- 
ivith  this  generation]  Here  is  tify  himself  by  religious  thoughts 
an  indication  of  the  cumulative  and  faithful  cleeds,  and  remains 
nature  of  sin  in  a  community,  and  empty,  and  thus  prepared  for  the 
of  the  judgments  visited  upon  it  return  of  what  is  evil,  then  that 
from  generation  to  generation,  till  spirit,  with  seven  others  worse  than 


MATTHEW    XII.  231 

44  places,  seeking  rest,  and  findeth  none.  Then  he  saith,  I  will 
return  into  my  house,  from  whence  I  came  out.     And  when  he 

45  is  come,  he  findeth  it  empty,  swept,  and  garnished.  Then 
goeth  he,  and  taketh  with  himself  seven  other  spirits,  more 
wicked  than  himself,  and  they  enter  in  and  dwell  there  ;  and 
the  last  state  of  that  man  is  worse  than  the  first.  Even  so  shall 
it  be  also  unto  this  wicked  generation. 

46  While  he  yet  talked  to  the  people,  behold,  his  mother  and 

47  his  brethren  stood  without,  desiring  to  speak  with  him.  Then 
one  said  unto  him.  Behold,  thy  mother  and  thy  brethren  stand 

48  without,  desiring  to  speak  with  thee.  But  he  answered  and 
said  unto  him  that  told  him,  Who  is  my  mother  V  and  who  are 

49  my  brethren  V  And  he  stretched  forth  his  hand  toward  his  dis- 
60  ciples,  and  said,  Behold,  my  mother,  and  my  brethren.     For 

whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  my  Father,  which  is  in  heaven, 
tlie  same  is  my  brother,  and  sister,  and  mother. 


iti^elf,    shall    enter    in     and    dwell  xi.  31),  to  denote  a  near  relative,  as, 

there.     So  shall  it  be  with  this  evil  e.  g.  a  nephew  or  cousin,  and  even 

generation,   as   compared  with    the  to   denote   a   friend.      It   has   been 

generations  which  have  gone  before,  supposed  that  the  word  is  so  used 

47.  thy  brethren]    The  here;   but  its  connection  with  the 

word   brother   is   still  used   in  the  word   mother  would  imply  that  it 

East,  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Abra-  is  used  in  its  stricter  sense.      See 

ham  ( Gen.  xiv.  16,  compared  with  xiii.  55. 


232  MATTHEW   XIII. PARABLES. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

Parables. 

The  fountain  of  life  within  flows  forth  into  outward 
acts,  and  those  outward  acts  are  an  emblem  of  the  mind 
from  which  they  come.  So  in  nature,  whatever  we  see 
proceeds  from  a  fountain  of  life  within,  and  is  an  emblem 
and  token  of  the  divine  source  from  which  it  proceeds. 
Everything  in  nature,  therefore,  is  an  expression  of  the 
Divine  Mind,  and  has  its  message  or  its  influence  from 
Him  for  us.  The  lightest  forms  of  nature  associate  them- 
selves with  our  deepest  feelings  or  our  highest  thoughts, 
and  the  more  entirely  we  are  bom  into  the  realm  of 
spiritual  things,  that  is,  the  more  alive  our  spiritual  per- 
ceptions are,  the  more  shall  we  be  able  to  see  the  tokens 
and  to  feel  the  influences  of  the  Divine  Mind  in  our  in- 
tercourse with  nature.  To  him  who  looks  through  the 
visible  forms  to  tlie  great  spiritual  realities  which  they 
would  express,  every  object  around  us,  every  change  in 
nature,  as  an  expression  of  the  Divine  Mind,  is  the  out- 
shadowing  or  the  foreshadowing  of  something  higher  than 
itself.  This  great  fact  finds  its  way  more  or  less  into 
our  common  speech.  The  morning  or  evening  of  the  day 
leads  us  spontaneously  to  think  of  the  morning  and  even- 
ing of  life.  When  we  see  the  sun  go  down,  and  as  it 
departs  light  up  the  western  heavens  with  a  richness  and 
glory  which  the  day  has  never  known,  we  can  hardly 
help  thinking  of  the  good  man's  life,  which  when  with- 
drawn from  our  sight  throws  around  the  whole  place 
where  he  dwelt,  in  gracious  and  touching  remembrances, 
afifections,  virtues,  and   prayers   more   beautiful  and   holy 


MATTHEW   XIH. PARABLES.  233 

than  when  he  was  bodilj  present  with  us.  So  the  flower, 
the  fruit,  the  leaf  is  each  suggestive  to  us  of  thoughts 
and  emotions  which  he  in  a  higher  plane  of  life.  Thus  it 
was  that  Jesus  saw  all  outward  objects  and  events  in  their 
higher  relations,  and  made  use  of  them  to  express  the  higher 
facts  which  thej  bodied  forth  to  his  mind.  No  one  can 
understand  his  language  who  receives  it  merely  in  its 
literal  acceptation  ;  "  for  the  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit 
giveth  life "  (2  Cor.  iii.  6).  We  have  only  to  open  the 
Gospels  to  see  how  in  his  use  of  speech  material  things 
are  made  to  lift  us  up  into  the  realm  of  spiritual  being. 
When  he  says,  "  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth,"  he  speaks 
in  no  literal  sense.  When  he  speaks  of  light  and  dark- 
ness, it  is  the  light  and  darkness  of  the  soul.  When  he 
speaks  of  hell  fire,  he  speaks  of  it,  not  in  its  material,  but 
its  spiritual  sense,  as  an  emblem  of  the  anguish  into  which 
the  souls  of  the  wicked  shall  be  cast,  unless  they  repent 
and  are  converted.  So  when  he  says,  "Whoso  eateth 
my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood  hath  eternal  life,"  it  is 
in  the  higher  and  spiritual  sense  that  these  expressions 
are  used.  The  devout  heart  catches  this  inner  meaning 
of  the  Saviour's  words,  and  finds  them,  as  he  has  said, 
becoming  to  him  ''  spirit  and  life."  He  that  would  read 
the  Gospels  in  any  other  way  loses  all  that  is  most  holy 
and  divine.  It  is  as  if  we  should  confine  our  eye  to  the 
glass  of  the  telescope,  instead  of  looking  through  it  to 
the  worlds  of  light  which  it  reveals  beyond. 

These  remarks  are  especially  applicable  to  the  chapter 
before  us,  which  has  been  called  the  chapter  of  parables. 
The  parables,  like  all  figurative  language  and  most  of 
our  reasoning  from  analogy,  derive  their  power  from  the 
fact  that  material  things,  not  only  have  certain  established 
relations  among  themselves,  but  also  certain  relations  to 
spiritual  things,  which  they  may  help  to  illustrate,  ex- 
plain, and  enforce.  The  connection  is  not  one  arbitrarily 
assumed  by  man,  but  has  its  foundation  in  the  constitu- 
20* 


234  MATTHEW    XIII. PARABLES. 

tion  of  tlie  universe  and  of  the  human  mind.  The  analogies 
which  reach  from  one  department  of  thought  to  another, 
from  things  material  to  things  intellectual  or  spiritual,  have 
impressed  themselves  on  all  languages,  and  perhaps  most 
decidedly  on  those  which  have  been  used  to  express  the 
highest  spiritual  ideas.  The  simplest  mind  catches  these 
resemblances,  and  delights  in  the  higher  meanings  which 
are  bodied  forth  in  the  most  common  forms  of  speech. 
The  image  borrowed  from  some  familiar  object  of  sense, 
and  standing  as  the  representative  of  some  higher  truth, 
fixes  itself  in  the  mind,  and  acts  upon  it  through  the 
imagination  with  a  power  which  more  literal  terms  could 
not  have.  The  greatest  poets,  the  profoundest  reasoners, 
and  the  common  language  of  mankind  alike  abound  in 
examples  of  this  kind.  Shakespeare,  for  instance,  may  be 
taken  to  show  how,  in  the  highest  poetry,  images  drawn 
from  material  things  or  common  life  shadow  forth  to  the 
heart  a  deeper,  higher,  or  more  affecting  meaning. 

"  The  immortal  part  needs  a  physician." —  Henry  IV. 
"  The  benediction  of  these  covering  heavens 

Fall  on  your  heads  hke  dew,"-^  Cymbeline. 
*'  Death  lies  on  her,  like  an  untimely  frost 

Upon  the  sweetest  flower  of  all  the  field." —  Romeo  and  Juliet. 

No  literal  terms  of  description  could  convey  to  the  mind 
the  ideas  here  suggested  with  such  exquisite  beauty  and 
tenderness.  The  Scriptures  abound  in  expressions  of  this 
sort,  which  introduce  into  the  mind  some  image  easily  com- 
prehended, that  fills  the  whole  soul  with  sentiments  and 
emotions  suggested  by  it.  Take  expressions  like  these: 
"  The  harvest  is  past,  the  summer  is  ended,  and  we  are  not 
saved."  (Jer.  viii.  20.)  "  The  night  is  far  spent,  the  day  is 
at  hand."  (Rom.  xiii.  12.)  "Abide  with  us  ;  for  it  is  toward 
evening,  and  the  day  is  far  spent."  (Luke  xxiv.  29.)  "  I 
am  the  good  Shepherd,  and  know  my  sheep,  and  am  known 
of  mine :  and  I  lay  down  my  life  for  the  sheep."  (John  x. 
14,  15.)     "  Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me 


MATTHEW    XIII. PARABLES.  235 

and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls.  For  my  yoke  is  easy, 
and  my  burden  is  light."  (Matt.  xi.  29,  30.)  We  see  at 
once  how  the  simple  facts,  which  are  presented  in  the  words, 
spontaneously  awaken  other  ideas  ;  and  the  images,  so  fa- 
miliar to  us  in  nature,  carry  us  on  to  thoughts  which  lie 
wholly  beyond  them.  And  not  merely  are  other  thoughts 
suggested,  but  sentiments  and  emotions,  which  we  can  hardly 
define,  are  awakened  by  the  words,  and  lift  us  up  into  a 
higher  sphere. 

"  It  is  not  merely,"  says  Trench  in  the  introduction  to  his 
Notes  on  the  Parables,  "  that  these  analogies  assist  to  make 
the  truth  intelligible,  or,  if  intelligible  before,  present  it  more 
vividly  to  the  mind,  which  is  all  that  some  will  allow  them. 
Their  power  lies  deeper  than  this,  in  the  harmony  uncon- 
sciously felt  by  all  men,  and  by  deeper  minds  continually 
recognized  and  plainly  perceived,  between  the  natural  and 
spiritual  worlds,  so  that  analogies  from  the  first  are  felt  to  be 
something  more  than  illustrations,  happily  but  yet  arbitra- 
rily chosen.  They  are  arguments,  and  may  be  alleged  as 
Avitnesses ;  the  world  of  nature  being  throughout  a  witness 
for  the  world  of  spirit,  proceeding  from  the  same  head,  grow- 
ing out  of  the  same  root,  and  being  constituted  for  that  very 
end.  All  lovers  of  truth  readily  acknowledge  these  myste- 
rious harmonies,  and  the  force  of  arguments  derived  from 
them." 

All  just  reasoning  from  analogy  depends  on  the  recogni- 
tion of  a  unity  of  purpose  running  through  all  the  works  of 
God,  and  making  them  all,  as  parts  of  one  great  plan,  point 
upward  to  the  same  results.  The  outward  system  of  things 
stands  forth  to  the  mind  as  the  representative  of  higher 
powers  than  address  themselves  to  the  senses.  "  The  heavens 
declare  the  glory  of  God."  (Ps.  xix.)  "  The  invisible  things 
of  Him,  even  his  eternal  power  and  godhead,  are  clearly 
seen  from  the  creation  of  the  world  being  understood  by 
the  things  that  are  made."  (Rom.  i.  20.)  "  All  things  here," 
gays  Tertullian,  "  are  witnesses  of  a  resurrection ;  all  things 


236  SIATTHEW   XIII. PARABLES. 

in  nature  are  prophetic  outlines  of  Divine  operations,  God 
not  merely  speaking  parables,  but  doing  them."  Not  only  in 
processes  of  reasoning,  but  in  the  finer  and  more  important 
processes  by  which  the  imagination  is  quickened  and  the 
affections  reached,  we  are  constantly  drawn  up  from  what  is 
material  and  temporal  to  what  is  spiritual  and  eternal. 
Works  like  those  of  Dante  and  Milton  borrow  their  marvel- 
lous power  from  this  fact.  Bunyan's  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,** 
and  Baxter's  "  Saint's  Rest,"  delight  the  heart,  and  feed  the 
religious  sentiments  of  generation  after  generation  through 
the  mysterious  but  vital  connections  which  bind  what  is  seen 
to  what  is  unseen.  This  alone  makes  it  possible  to  weave, 
from  scenes  and  incidents  addressed  to  the  eye,  a  narrative 
which  shall  bring  us  into  connection  with  a  higher  order  of 
beings  and  events.  The  language  which  has  most  deeply 
moved  the  heart  of  the  world,  and  especially  that  which  acts 
most  powerfully  on  the  masses,  and  at  the  same  time  on  the 
purest  religious  minds,  partakes  largely  of  this  character. 
The  world  is,  not  only  a  school-room,  in  which  visible  objects 
serve  as  diagrams  by  which  to  prove  the  reality  of  spiritual 
things ;  but  on  every  side  are  pictures  addressing  themselves 
to  the  eye,  through  the  eye  to  the  imagination,  and  through 
the  imagination  to  the  heart,  awakening  our  spiritual  sensi- 
bihties,  and  educating  our  whole  natures  to  a  higher  Hfe. 
We  can  hardly  overestimate  the  influence  in  the  religious 
training  of  the  world,  which  has  been  exercised  in  this 
way  by  the  pictures  from  nature,  or  from  common  life, 
which  have  been  used  by  Jesus  to  represent  spiritual  ideas» 
excite  religious  emotions,  or  help  us  on  in  our  religious  ex- 
perience. 

The  parables  belong  to  this  department  of  religious  in- 
s.truction.  The  value  of  a  parable  is  not  to  be  estimated  by 
the  single  truth  whicli  it  is  employed  to  set  forth,  however 
great  that,  truth  may  be.  Its  accompaniments,  its  indirect 
and  subtle  influences,  tlirough  the  imagination,  the  new 
meaning  which  it  thus  gives  to  nature  or  to  life,  the  atmos- 


MATTHEW   XIII.    1-9,18-23.  237 

phere  of  spiritual  beauty,  joy,  or  reverence,  in  which  it  en- 
folds the  mind  of  the  child,  and  by  which  it  ministers  to  its 
spiritual  and  immortal  life,  are  to  be  taken  into  account  as 
adjuncts,  apart  from  which  the  truth  would  be  left  compara- 
tively without  interest  and  without  power.  The  parable  of 
The  Sower  who  went  forth  to  sow,  of  the  Wheat  and  the 
Tares,  of  the  Ten  Virgins,  the  Rich  Man  and  Lazarus, 
The  Good  Samaritan,  and  the  Prodigal  Son,  are  among  the 
most  impressive  and  influential  agencies  in  our  religious 
education. 

As  to  the  rules  of  interpretation,  too  much  stress  must 
not  be  laid  on  the  details  in  judging  of  their  relation  to  the 
main  truth.  Their  office  is  rather,  by  completing  the  picture, 
to  act  on  the  imagination,  to  touch  the  feelings,  and  subdue 
the  mind  to  the  tone  which  is  needed  in  order  that  it  may 
receive  the  truth.  This  is  a  most  important  office.  In  the 
Prodigal  Son,  for  instance,  the  little  details  which  go  to  fill 
out  the  picture  of  want  and  wretchedness  are  what  give  its 
affiscting  pathos  to  the  story.  And  the  fact  that  they  per- 
form this  essential  office  should  put  us  on  our  guard  against 
trying  to  force  all  the  minute  particulars  into  our  interpreta- 
tion.    A  parable  is  not  an  allegory. 

1-9,  18-23.     The  Parable  of  the  Sower. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  as  Jesus,  from  the  boat  in  which 
he  sat,  looked  up  along  the  sweep  of  the  hills  that  converged 
downward  to  the  lake,  he  may  have  seen  a  sower  actually 
going  forth  to  sow,  and  pointing  to  him,  or  directing  the  eyes 
of  the  multitude  towards  him  for  a  moment,  he  may  have 
drawn  his  instruction  from  what  was  actually  passing  before 
them.  It  is  also  possible  that  the  opening  words,  "  Be- 
hold, a  sower  went  forth  to  sow,"  were  made  more  touch- 
ingly  impressive  to  the  devoiit  Jews  by  calling  to  mind  the 
affecting  language  of  Psalm  cxxvi. :  "  They  that  sow  in 
tears  shall  reap  in  joy.     He  that  goeth  forth  and  weepeth, 


238  MATTHEW   XIII.    10-23. 

bearing  precious  seed,  shall,  doubtless,  come  again  with  re- 
joicing, bringing  his  sheaves  with  him."  It  may  also,  there 
by  the  waters  of  the  lake,  have  connected  itself  with  the 
promise  in  Isaiah  xxxii.  20  :  "  Blessed  are  ye  that  sow  be- 
side all  waters."  Stanley,  in  his  Sinai  and  Palestine,  pp. 
42  -  48,  speaks  of  a  field  in  the  plain  of  Grenesareth,  where 
all  the  conditions  involved  in  this  parable  were  fulfilled ;  — 
the  cornfield  running,  down  to  the  lake,  the  trodden  pathway 
through  it,  the  rich  soil,  the  rocky  ground  protruding  into  it 
here  and  there,  large  bushes  of  thorns  springing  up  in  it, 
and  countless  birds  of  all  kinds. 

The  object  of  the  parable  is  to  show  the  different  states  of 
mind,  on  account  of  which  different  persons  hear  the  same 
truth  with  such  widely  different  results.  There  is  the 
hardened  mind,  which,  hearing  the  word  but  not  understand- 
ing it,  does  not  take  it  in  at  all,  but  leaves  it  on  the  surface 
to  be  carried  away  at  once  by  the  slightest  temptation,  the 
first  suggestion  of  the  wicked  one.  There  is  the  shallow 
mind,  quick  and  transient  in  its  emotions,  receiving  it  with 
a  momentary  warmth  of  joy  which  causes  it  quickly  to 
spring  up,  but  the  planjt  having  no  depth  of  character  in 
which  to  take  root,  in  the  first  heats  of  opposition  or  perse- 
cution wilts  away.  There  is  the  rich,  strong  mind,  already 
preoccupied  by  other  things,  which  receives  it  with  them. 
But  they,  the  cares  of  the  world,  the  deceitful  allurements 
of  riches,  the  pleasures  of  life,  and,  as  Mark  says,  the  pas- 
sionate desires  for  other  things,  strangle  it,  and  though  it 
struggles  along  with  them,  it  brings  no  fruit  to  perfection. 
Then  there  are  the  good  and  honest  minds  which,  in  pro- 
portion to  their  strength,  bring  forth  fruit,  a  hundred,  sixty, 
or  thirty  fold. 

10-23. — Teaching  in  Parables. 

This  conversation,  see  Mark  iv.  10,  took  place  privately 
afterwards,  and  is  introduced  here  parenthetically  by  the 


MATTHEW   XIII.    10-23.  239 

writer  as  in  the  proper  place  for  the  explanations  which  it 
gives.  After  Jesus  had  withdrawn  from  the  multitudes,  and 
the  disciples  seeing  that  he  had  not  been  understood,  asked 
him  why  he  spoke  to  the  multitudes  in  parables  ?  "  Because," 
he  replied,  "  while  to  you  [whose  spiritual  perceptions  are 
awakened]  the  hitherto  undeclared  mysteries  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  are  revealed,  yet  (Mark  iv.  11)  to  them 
who  are  without,"  i.  e.  who  are  not  my  disciples,  "all  things 
are  in  parables,"  i.  e.  are  not  plain,  but  veiled  and  hidden. 
It  made  no  difference,  therefore,  to  them  whether  he  spoke 
in  parables  or  not.  They  would  not  in  any  case  understand 
him.  But  if,  in  the  plainest  terms,  he  should  declare  the 
truths  which  were  embodied  in  these  parables,  they  would 
misapprehend  entirely  the  nature  of  his  kingdom,  and  some 
of  them  would  violently  oppose  him,  while  others  with  equal 
violence,  as  in  John  vi.  15,  would  endeavor  to  force  him  to 
become  their  king.  In  order  to  avoid  this,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  impart  encouragement  and  instruction  to  those  who  in 
lowliness  and  simplicity  of  heart  were  waiting  for  his  king- 
dom, he  adopted  a  method  of  teaching,  which,  while  it 
taught  nothing  to  those  whose  views  and  characters  were 
all  wrong,  gave  the  needed  help  to  those  who  were  ready  to 
receive  it.  Under  this  kind  of  instruction,  it  was  peculiarly 
true,  12,  that  to  him  who  had,  i.  e.  who  had  the  teachable 
spirit,  it  was  given,  i.  e.  was  given  to  understand  the  words 
of  Christ,  and  from  him  who  had  not  this  spirit  was  taken 
away  even  that  which  he  had,  viz.  the  sort  of  understand- 
ing which  he  might  have  had,  if  plain  instructions  had  been 
given.  Thus  it  was  strictly  true  that  Jesus  spoke  to  them 
in  parables,  ^^  because  they  did  not,"  or,  as  in  Mark  iv.  12, 
and  Luke  viii.  10,  "  m  order  that  they  might  not,"  under- 
stand, while  they  saw  and  heard  him.  If  they  had  caught 
the  only  meaning  respecting  his  kingdom  which  they  were 
capable  of  receiving  from  the  plainest  instructions,  it  would 
probably  have  led  to  violence  and  the  premature  close  of 
his  ministry.     The  parables  were  as  letters  in  cipher,  intel- 


240  MATTHEW   XIII.   24-30. 

ligible  to  Ills  friends,  but  without  meaning  to  those  who  did 
not  belong  to  him. 

24-30.  —  The  Tares  and  the  Wheat. 

The  parable  of  the  sower  speaks  of  the  different  results 
produced  by  the  same  seed  according  to  the  different  states 
of  mind  in  those  who  receive  it.  This  parable  of  the  tares 
and  wheat  is  to  illustrate  the  different  effects  produced 
by  different  sorts  of  seed.  If  we  interpret  the  parable 
and  its  explanation,  38,  39,  literally,  we  find  that  good 
men  proceed  from  seed  sown  by  the  Son  of  Man*  and  bad 
men  from  seed  sown  by  the  Devil.  But  the  Avords  are 
not  to  be  construed  so  strictly.  As,  in  the  parable  of 
the  sower,  the  seed  was  identified  with  the  man  in  whom 
it  grew  up,  so  here  the  man  is  identified  with  the  seed 
which  essentially  modified  his  whole  nature.  The  tares 
are  a  bastard  sort  of  wheat,  or  a  mischievous  plant,  not 
easily  distinguished  from  good  wheat  in  the  early  stages 
of  its  growth.  Both  therefore  for  a  time  must  be  per- 
mitted to  grow  up  together,  since  the  bad  cannot  be 
rooted  up  without  injury  to  the  good.  But  when  they 
have  reached  their  maturity,  and  their  entirely  different 
characters  are  manifest,  a  separation  is  made.  The  good 
wheat  is  preserved,  the  bad  consumed. 

The  doctrine  of  the  existence  of  moral  evil  and  the 
delay  in  its  punishment  is  her^  compressed  into  a  single 
sentence.  The  most  labored  and  profound  investigations 
of  philosophy  have  not  been  able  to  go  farther,  or  to 
throw  even  a  clouded  ray  of  additional  light  on  this  dark 
and  terrible  problem.  Those  who  are  interested  to  know 
liow  far  this  problem  may  be  solved  without  the  aid  of 
Christianity  by  a  very  able,  thoughtful,  and  devout  man, 
vvould  do  well  to  read,  in  Plutarch's  Morals,  his  fine  essay 
"  Concerning  those  whom  God  is  slow  to  punish."  Among 
other  less  weighty  considerations  which  he  illustrates  with 


MATTHEW    XIII.    24-30.  241 

pertinent  examples,  he  says  that  punishment  may  be  de- 
layed in  order  to  give  those  who  commit  great  crimes 
an  opportunity  to  do  what  good  they  will.  The  man  who 
gains  a  kingdom  by  crime  may  then  seek  to  make  up 
for  his  crime  by  using  his  power  for  good  ends,  and  tlie 
world  would  be  the  loser  if  he  Avere  cut  off  at  once. 
Or  the  offender's  life  may  be  spared,  because  his  own 
conscience,  in  the  apprehensions  and  terrors  which  it  holds 
over  him,  may  inflict  a  more  dreadful  punishment  than 
immediate  death.  Or  if  the  punishment  is  deferred  in 
this  world,  it  is  only  that  it  may  hereafter  be  inflicted 
W'ith  the  greater  severity,  before  its  purpose  is  accom- 
plished, and  the  man's  sin  and  guilt  purged  away.  Or 
it  may  be  in  order  to  allow  an  opportunity  for  amend- 
ment, which  is  shown  by  the  example  of  a  young  man 
wdio,  after  a  dissolute,  dishonest,  and  cruel  course  of  life, 
being  stunned  by  a  fall  and  while  in  a  swoon  seeing  as 
in  another  world  how  crimes  are  exposed,  the  souls  of 
the  guilty  turned  inside  out,  and  vengeance  wreaked  upon 
them,  he  determined  to  reform  his  character,  and  lived 
afterwards  purely  and  uprightly.  Jesus  goes  far  deeper 
than  this  into  the  very  constitution  and  nature  of  things. 
Without  exposure  and  temptation  to  evil,  we  conclude 
from  his  teachings,  there  can  be  no  virtue.  Bad  deeds 
and  men  cannot  be  extirpated  now  except  by  destroying 
the  good  with  them.  Evil  does  exist.  It  cannot  be  rooted 
out  without  rooting  out  also  the  virtues  that  are  growing 
with  it,  and  which  often  in  the  early  period  of  their 
growth  can  hardly  be  distinguished  from  it.  Nor  can 
bad  men  be  destroyed  at  once  without  a  fatal  influence 
on  the  good.  But  by  and  by,  when  their  deeds  and 
characters  have  fully  developed  themselves,  in  the  con- 
summation to  them  of  this  earthly  dispensation,  that  is, 
in  the  end  of  the  world  to  each  of  them,  a  separation 
shall  be  made  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of  a 
righteous  retribution.  In  these  parables  Jesus  "gathers 
21 


242  MATTHEAY    XIII.    24-30. 

up  ages  into  one  season  of  seed-time  and  of  harvest." 
So  the  end  of  the  world,  or  the  day  of  judgment  to  each 
individual  "when  his  earthly  course  is  ended,  is  set  forth 
by  one  majestic  figure  in  which  all  the  generations  of 
men  are  brought  together  to  be  separated  according  to 
what  they  have  done,  41,  42,  and  been,  48  -  50. 

There  are  nowhere  more  sublime  images  of  moral  grand- 
eur than  are  placed  before  us  here.  Earthly  scenes  that 
impress  themselves  most  powerfully  on  the  imagination, 
earthly  thrones  and  kingdoms  and  the  mightiest  displays 
of  human  authority  shrink  away.  "  The  field  is  the  world. 
The  harvest  is  the   end  of  the  world.      The  reapers  are 

the    angels The    Son    of  man    shall    send    forth 

his  angels  and  he  shall  gather  out  of  his  kingdom  all 
those  who  cause  others  to  sin,  and  all  who  work  iniquity, 
and  shall  cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire;  there  shall 
be  the  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  Then  shall  the 
righteous  shine  forth  as  the  sun,  in  the  kingdom  of  their 
Father."  The  last  sentence  would  probably  come  with 
still  greater  force  to  the  Jews  from  its  bringing  to  their 
minds  a  most  impressive  passage  in  one  of  their  sublimest 
prophets.  "  And  they  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  bright- 
ness of  the  firmament ;  and  they  that  turn  many  to  right- 
eousness, as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever."  (Daniel  xii.  3.) 
To  them  at  least,  language  like  this  used  by  the  sacred 
writers  of  old,  and  for  generations  educating  the  hearts 
of  the  people  to  a  deeper  solemnity,  became,  when  inter- 
mingled with  the  speech  of  Jesus,  more  impressive  than 
words  wholly  unfamiliar  to  them  could  have  been. 

We  do  not  like  to  discuss  the  duration  of  future  punish- 
ment in  the  presence  of  images  such  as  are  thrown  around 
the  condition  of  the  wicked  hereafter.  Jesus  undoubtedly 
intended  to  represent  them  as  full  of  misery.  But  he 
says  nothing  in  this  place,  if  he  does  anywhere,  in  re- 
gard to  the  period  of  its  continuance ;  not  one  word  to 
show  whethei",  like  tares,  the  wicked  themselves  shall  be 


MATTHEW   XIII.   24-30.  243 

Utterly  burned  up,  or  whether  the  penal  fires  (taken  of 
course  in  a  figurative  sense)  shall  only  consume  and  purge 
away  their  sins,  so  that  at  last  (as  is  intimated  in  1  Cor. 
XV.  24-28),  after  we  know  not  how  many  years  or  ages, 
they  may  be  restored  to  life  and  peace,  or  whether  they 
are  left  there  in  endless  sin  and  pain.  He  places  before 
us  in  the  most  impressive  and  terrible  language  the  dread- 
ful character  and  consequences  of  sin,  that  we  may  be 
warned  against  it;  and  it  is  much  Aviser  in  us,  —  it  shows 
a  deeper  reverence  for  him,  to  use  these  expressions  as 
undefined  but  awful  warnings  for  ourselves  and  others, 
than  by  attempting  to  lessen  or  to  aggravate  their  horrors 
by  any  speculations  of  ours  in  regard  to  the  precise  method 
of  inflicting  punishment,  or  the  term  of  its  duration.  AVhy 
can  we  not  learn  to  respect  the  reserve  of  Jesus  in  re- 
gard to  such  themes? 

The  field  is  the  world  according  to  our  use  of  the 
word.  The  harvest  is  the  end  of  the  world,  the  consum- 
mation of  the  CEon^  age,  or  dispensation,  as  applied  to  the 
Jewish  nation  and  to  each  individual  soul.  See  Note. 
In  this  great  field  of  the  world  we  are  sowing  seed,  and 
at  the  same  time  are  ourselves  growing  up  and  ripening 
for  the  harvest.  Whatsoever  we  sow,  that  shall  we  also 
reap.  "  For  he  that  soweth  to  his  flesh,  shall  of  the  flesh 
reap  corruption ;  but  he  that  soweth  to  the  Spirit,  shall 
of  the  Spirit  reap  everlasting  life."  (Gal.  vi.  8.)  As  in 
the  ripened  fruit,  every  shower  that  fell  upon  it,  every 
hour  of  sunshine,  every  night  that  folded  it  round  with 
darkness,  every  ingredient  in  the  soil  beneath,  entered 
into  its  texture,  and  helped  to  make  it  what  it  is  in  the 
time  of  harvest,  so  with  us,  every  incident  in  life,  the 
passions  we  indulge,  the  actions  we  perform,  the  hopes 
we  cherish  or  reject,  the  privileges  we  improve  or  leave 
unimproved,  are  entering  into  the  texture  of  our  souls, 
and  preparing  us,  or  leaving  us  unprepared,  for  the  harvest. 
Nothing  that  has  entered  into  our  life's  experience  shall 


244  MATTHEW   XIII.    21-30. 

be  lost.  Our  riches  and  honors,  our  j^leasant  homes  and 
comfortable  situations,  except  in  their  influence  on  the 
soul,  shall  pass  from  us.  But  every  kind  deed  that  we 
have  done,  everj  pang  of  contrition,  every  earnest  effort 
in  behalf  of  what  is  good,  every  prayer  that  we  have 
uttered  from  the  heart,  every  longing  after  holiness,  every 
unselfish  affection  that  we  have  cherished  and  obeyed, 
every  sorrow  that  has  helped  to  w^ean  us  from  the  world 
or  draw  us  towards  God,  every  pain  or  disappointment 
patiently  or  meekly  borne,  —  every  one  of  these,  in  the 
influences  which  it  is  having  upon  us,  shall  be  gathered 
in,  the  only  treasures  w^e  can  carry  with  us,  when  our  harvest, 
which  is  the  end  of  the  world  to  each  one  of  us,  shall 
come.  And  the  harvest  must  be  whenever  the  Son  of 
man  shall  send  forth  his  reapers,  the  angels,  to  gather 
us  in.  The  little  child  that  without  one  questioning  thought 
or  fear  resigns  itself  into  their  hands,  though  but  an  open- 
ing bud,  is  gathered  into  the  harvest  of  its  Lord.  The 
young  girl  who,  through  some  mysterious  sympathy  with 
them  or  some  strange  monition  to  the  soul,  seems  to  hear 
the  sound  of  their  coming  from  afar,  and  without  appre- 
hension or  surprise  composes  herself  for  the  solemn  change, 
and  with  encouraging  farew^ells  and  a  perfect  trust  leaves 
all  that  she  loves  on  earth,  goes  already  ripe  for  the 
harvest.  The  aged  servant  of  Christ  who  has  long  been 
waiting  for  his  Master's  call,  departs  from  us  at  last  as 
one  prepared  and  ripened  for  the  kingdom  of  Heaven. 
He  has  finished  his  labors  ;  he  has  had  his  trials.  He  has 
been  opposed  and  maligned,  he  has  been  praised  and 
honored  by  man  ;  but  he  has  done  justly,  loved  mercy, 
and  walked  humbly  with  his  God.  Nothing  that  he  has 
once  gained  in  his  religious  progress  is  lost.  His  principles 
confirmed  by  a  life  of  scrupulous  fidelity ;  his  mind  ex- 
panded and  enriched  by  a  conscientious  search  after  truth ; 
his  affections  chastened  and  mellowed  by  disappointments 
and  sorrows ;  his  faith  strengthened  by  every  varying  ex- 


MATTHEW    XIII.    24-30.  245 

perience  of  life  and  carried  into  every  department  of  ac- 
tivity and  thought ;  —  all  growing  up  and  ripening  here  under 
the  clouds  or  sunshine  of  God's  love,  are  gathered  in  when 
the  revolving  years  have  completed  their  circuit,  and  to 
him  the  end  of  the  world,  —  the  fulfilment  and  consummation 
of  the  age,  —  has  come.  And  the  wicked  too  !  —  There  is 
no  more  sublime  or  beautiful  or  awful  picture  than  this 
of  the  world  as  a  field,  and  the  end  of  the  world  as 
the  harvest,  in  which  for  joy  or  sorrow  we  all  of  us  shall 
be  gathered  in. 

The  Wicked  One. 

But  how  are  we  here  to  interpret  "  the  wicked  one," 
"  the  enemy,"  "  the  devil "  and  "  the  angels  "  ?  As  already 
stated,  we  are  not  to  press  the  adjuncts  of  a  parable  too 
literally.  They  are  to  be  considered  as  the  surrounding 
scenery  fitted  to  make  an  impression  on  the  mind  through 
the  imagination,  and  thus  prepare  it  to  receive  the  truth 
which  is  taught.  When  Jesus  speaks  of  a  merchantman 
finding  one  pearl  of  great  price,  and  selling  all  that  he 
has  in  order  to  purchase  that,  we  do  not  suppose  that 
he  asserts  this  as  a  fact  which  had  actually  taken  place. 
He  holds  it  up  as  a  picture  to  illustrate  an  important 
truth  ;  and  this  it  does  equally  well,  whether  he  regarded 
it  as  a  veritable  fact  or  as  an  imaginary  incident.  Some 
of  the  parables  may  have  been  suggested  by  passing 
events ;  but  the  particulars  he  undoubtedly  supplied  and 
arranged  in  such  a  way  as  might  most  effectually  accom- 
plish his  purpose,  as  a  teacher  of  divine  truth.  And  this 
is  the  case,  whether  he  draws  his  illustrations  from  familiar 
and  well-known  objects  here,  as  the  Sower  and  his  Seed, 
the  Good  Samaritan,  and  the  Prodigal  Son,  or  from  objects 
which  lie  beyond  our  personal  cognizance,  as  the  devil,  the 
angels,  &c.  For  example,  in  the  paral)le  of  th(^  Rich  Man 
and  Lazarus  (Luke  xvi.  19-31),  as  in  the  details  be 
21* 


246  MATTHEW   XIII.    24-30. 

longing  to  tliis  world,  the  crumbs,  the  dogs,  the  sores, 
we  do  not  suppose  that  Jesus  speaks  of  facts  which  actu- 
ally took  place  m  precisely  the  manner  there  represented ; 
so  in  the  details  belonging  to  another  world,  the  being 
carried  by  the  angels  into  Abraham's  bosom,  the  con- 
versation between  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus,  the  gulf 
and  the  flames,  we  do  not  suppose  that  Jesus  intended  to 
set  before  us  a  representation  of  literal  facts  which  actu- 
ally took  place.  Are  we  to  give  a  more  strict  and  literal 
interpretation  to  the  terms  which  are  used  here  ? 

It  is  impossible  to  draw  a  line  which  shall  distinguish 
precisely  between  what  is  literal  and  what  is  figurative, 
what  is  a  matter  of  fact  and  what  is  imaginative.  The 
two  provinces  are  constantly  interpenetrating  one  another, 
in  such  a  way  as  to  set  forth  the  central  truth  with  the 
greatest  distinctness  and  power.  A  few  considerations,  how- 
ever, may  help  us  to  a  just  interpretation. 

In  borrowing  images  from  the  outward  world  Jesus 
never,  so  far  as  we  know,  draws  them  from  fabulous 
orders  of  being.  The  particular  man,  tares,  wheat,  pearl, 
leaven,  which  he  refers  to,  may  be  imagined  or  assumed 
for  the  occasion ;  but  they  all  belong  to  species  which 
have  an  actual  existence,  and  he  never  attributes  to 
them  properties  which  they  do  not  really  possess.  There 
is  everywhere  this  rigid  conformity  to  the  great  essential 
facts  of  nature.  Have  we  not  a  right  to  infer  that  in 
going  beyond  this  world  there  will  be  the  same  adherence 
to  the  great  essential  facts  of  existence  ?  As  he  never 
here  draws  his  illustrations  from  any  species  of  plant,  ani- 
mal, or  other  being,  which  does  not  really  exist,  will  he 
speak  to  us  of  orders  of  beings  the7'e  who  have  only  a 
fabulous  existence  ?  *  In  going  beyond  this  material  world, 
and  placing  before  us  agents  of  whom  we  cannot  judge 
from  our  personal  knowledge,  but  whom  he  with  his  spirit- 
ual powers  of  vision  could  recognize,  would  he  be  likely 
to  speak  of  beings  wholly  fabulous  and   imaginary  as   if 


MATTHEW   XIII.    24-30.  247 

they  really  existed,  or  assign  to  them  in  their  relation 
to  us  very  important  offices  which  they  do  not  hold  ?  We 
may  doubt  whether  the  angels  carried  Lazarus  and  placed 
him  in  Abraliam's  bosom.  These  are  only  incidental  illus- 
trations which  answer  the  same  purpose,  whether  they  are 
literally  true  or  not.  But,  in  the  face  of  what  Jesus  says 
there  and  here,  can  we  doubt  that  there  are  such  beings 
as  angels,  and  that  they,  as  God's  ministers,  hold  important 
relations  to  us  ?  So,  when  he  speaks  of  the  evil  one,  the 
enemy,  the  devil,  Satan,  we  may  doubt  as  to  the  special 
agency  assigned  to  such  a  being  in  any  particular  case ; 
but  are  we  at  liberty  to  say  that  the  very  idea  of  such 
a  personage  is  drawn  from  a  wholly  fabulous  and  imaginary 
order  of  beings  ?  When  Jesus  speaks,  42,  of  casting  the 
wicked  into  a  furnace  of  fire,  we  are  not  obliged  to  take 
it  as  a  literal  fact.  It  may  be,  and  probably  is,  only  a 
terrific  image  borrowed  from  what  is  most  dreadful  in 
this  world  to  describe  the  intolerable  anguish  of  the  guilty 
in  the  world  to  come.  The  illustration,  however,  is  drawn, 
not  from  a  fabulous  source,  but  from  something  which  has 
a  substantial  basis  of  reality.  Nor  can  it  be  shown  that 
in  a  single  instance  Jesus  has  in  any  of  his  instructions 
assumed  the  existence  of  anything  which  belonged  to  a 
fabulous  class  of  beings.  What  right,  then,  have  we  to 
suppose  that  the  moment  he  goes  beyond  the  reach  of 
our  faculties  and  the  limits  of  this  world,  he  violates  the 
proprieties  of  truth  which  he  always  observes  where  we 
have  the  power  to  judge,  and  sets  before  us  orders  of 
beings  which  have  no  existence,  as  if  they  really  existed, 
and  sustained  some  important  relations  to  us  ? 

Another  consideration  is  entitled  to  some  weight ;  though 
it  ought  not  to  be  pressed  so  far  as  it  is  by  some  of  our 
ablest  modern  commentators.  The  language  here,  19,  39, 
41,  is  taken,  not  from  the  parables,  but  from  the  explanation 
which  Jesus  gave  of  two  of  his  parables.  When,  therefore, 
he   says,   "  He   who   sows   the   good   seed  is   the   Son  of 


248  MATTIIEAV   XIII.    24-30. 

man,"  and  "he  who  sows  the  tares  is  the  devil,"  by  what 
principle  of  interpretation  are  we  justified  in  accepting  one 
clause  of  the  sentence  as  true,  and  rejecting  the  other 
as  merely  an  accommodation  to  the  false  ideas  and  preju- 
dices of  the  Jews  ?  His  language  asserts,  as  distinctly 
as  language  can,  the  existence  and  agency  of  an  evil 
spirit.  It  does  this  while  explaining  the  meaning  of  a 
parable,  in  a  private  and  confidential  conversation  with 
his  disciples. 

We  must  not,  however,  insist  on  a  literal  application 
of  his  words  in  all  their  particulars  even  here.  In  verses 
19  and  20,  we  see  in  a  similar  explanation  how  figurative 
and  literal  expressions  are  blended  together.  The  in- 
sufficiency of  a  language  unused  to  the  expression  of  ab- 
stract ideas  required  a  liberal  and  constant  use  of  figurative 
terms.  Truths  relating  to  the  unseen  spiritual  world  must 
be  set  forth  by  such  images  as  can  be  received  b\  those 
who  are  addressed.  The  most  exact  terms  that  can  be 
used  even  now  to  give  an  idea  of  spiritual  beings  and 
agencies  are  doubtless  only  such  clouded  images  of  divine 
truth  as  we  are  able  to  receive,  seeing  them,  according 
to  St.  Paul  (1  Cor.  xiii.  12),  not  face  to  face,  but  "  darkly, 
as  by  the  reflection  of  a  mirror."  When  Jesus  says,  that 
he  will  send  forth  his  angels  to  gather  together  those 
who  have  been  stumbling-blocks  in  the  way  of  others  and 
those  who  work  iniquity,  and  cast  them  into  a  furnace 
of  fire  where  there  shall  be  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth, 
we  are  to  consider  these  as  terms  which  set  before  us, 
in  language  as  exact  and  intelligible  as  any  that  could  be 
used,  the  momentous  fact  of  a  future  retribution.  The  images 
must,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  be  borrowed  from  what 
is  known  and  experienced  in  this  world.  Earthly  facts 
and  conceptions  are  made  to  set  forth  "  darkly  "  the  higlier 
facts  belonging  to  our  spiritual  natures  when  they  shall 
be  transferred  to  a  spiritual  world.  Still,  if  the  angels 
and  the  devil  have  no  personal  existence,  or  no  personal 


MATTHEW    XIII.    24-30.  249 

ngency  in  bringing  about  the  results  here  placed  before 
us,  is  it  easy  to  suppose  that  Jesus  would  have  used  such 
language  merely  by  way  of  accommodating  himself  to  the 
prejudices  and  fal.-e  conceptions  of  the  Jews  ?  In  meeting 
the  Greeks  who  are  spoken  of  in  John  xii.  20,  could  he 
have  taught  them,  by  conceptions  drawn  from  iheir  my- 
thology, and  going  necessarily  to  confirm  them  in  their 
erroneous  habits  of  belief?  Could  he  have  spoken  to  them 
of  Centaurs,  of  Rhadamanthus,  of  Jupiter  and  Pan,  as  he 
does  to  the  Jews,  of  Satan  and  the  angels  ? 

It  is  said  that  the  idea  of  Satan,  or,  as  Dr.  Palfrey  calls 
it,  "  the  mythology  of  an  evil  spirit  (answering  to  the  Oriental 
Ahrimaii)^  Lectures  on  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  Vol.  IV.  p. 
21,  was  learned  by  the  Jews  from  the  Chaldseans  during  their 
seventy  years  captivity  in  Babylon.  This  is  possible.  The 
word  Satan  with  this  signification  occurs  but  two  or  three 
times  in  the  Old  Testament,  viz.  1  Chron.  xxi.  1,  Zech. 
iii.  1,  2,  and  perhaps  in  the  first  and  second  chapters  of 
Job.  Before  the  time  of  Christ,  the  doctrine  (of  which 
hardly  a  trace  is  to  be  found  in  the  Old  Testament)  per- 
vaded the  philosophy  and  religious  conceptions  of  the  Jcavs. 
But  may  it  not  be,  that,  in  the  providential  training  of  the 
Jews  for  the  reception  of  higher  religious  ideas,  the  notions 
of  diabolical  as  well  as  of  angelie  agencies,  which  grew  up 
round  the  sublime  Theism  that  became  more  and  more 
the  established  faith  of  the  nation,  may  have  performed 
an  important  work  in  preparing  them  for  the  idea  of  a 
great  Christian  commonwealth,  the  kingdom  of  God,  or 
of  the  heavens  ?  To  them,  at  the  time  of  our  Saviour's 
coming,  the  invisible  realms  were  peopled  with  living  beings, 
acting  as  God's  agents,  or  in  opposition  to  his  will.  The 
contest  between  good  and  evil  was  not  confined  to  this 
visible  world  of  theirs.  Through  their  long  and  varied 
experience,  these  ideas  were  added  to  the  Theism  taught 
by  Moses,  and  had  become  incorporated  among  their  estab- 
lished religious   conceptions   and   convictions.      They  held 


250  MATTHEW    Xlll.    24-30. 

no  small  or  iiiiimportant  place  in  their  religious  culture. 
If  they  were  false,  Jesus  might  have  left  them,  as  he 
did  most  of  the  prevailing  sins  and  errors  without  specific 
notice,  to  vanish  away  and  perish,  before  the  higher  con- 
ceptions of  truth  and  duty  which  he  came  to  reveal.  But 
if  they  were  false,  and  as  false  pernicious  also,  could  he, 
not  merely  in  his  reasoning  with  the  Jews,  but  in  his 
private  instructions  to  his  disciples,  from  the  temptation 
in  the  wilderness  to  his  last  solemn  conversation  with 
them  the  evening  before  his  crucifixion  (Luke  xxii.  31, 
John  xiv.  30,  xvi.  11),  have  used  language  which  must 
have  confirmed  them  in  the  belief  that  those  false  ideas 
and  conceptions  were  true  ?  He  has  left  no  word  which 
condemns  or  calls  them  in  question.  On  the  other  hand, 
they  harmonize  with  all  that  he  has  taught  us  respecting 
the  unseen  world,  and  God's  methods  of  action  there  as 
here  through  intervening  agents. 

It  is  sometimes  suggested,  that  Jesus  may  have  shared 
the  opinions  of  his  age  in  regard  to  this  subject,  and  so 
have  been  mistaken  in  his  views.  We  know  that  he 
emphatically  disclaimed  for  himself  (Mark  xiii.  32)  the 
gift  of  omniscience.  But  in  regard  to  any  doctrine  which 
he  has  taught,  we  have  no  disposition  to  go  behind  or  to 
question  his  authority.  To  us  his  word,  clearly  announced 
and  understood,  is  evidence  and  authority  enough.  Those 
who  are  interested  in  this  subject  are  particularly  requested 
to  read  the  note  to  verse  39  of  this  chapter,  and  to  remem- 
ber that,  even  though  such  a  being  or  such  beings  as  a  devil 
or  devils  exist,  our  popular  or  even  our  philosophical  notions 
respecting  them  are  not  therefore  to  be  assumed  as  true  or 
as  reasonable. 


MATTHEW    XIII.  251 


NOTES. 

The  same  day  went  Jesus  out  of  the  house,  and  sat  by  the 

3  sea-side ;    »nd  great  multitudes  were  gathered  together  unto 

him,  so  that  he  went  into  a  ship,  and  sat ;  and  the  whole  multi- 

3  tude  stood  on  the  shore.    And  he  spake  many  things  unto  them 

4  in  parables,  saying :  Behold,  a  sower  went  forth  to  sow.  And 
when  he  sowed,  some  seeds  fell  by  the  way-side ;  and  the  fowls 

5  came  and  devoured  them  up.  Some  fell  upon  stony  places, 
where  they  had  not  much  earth ;   and  forthwith  they  sprung 

6  up,  because  they  had  no  deepness  of  earth ;  and  when  the 
sun  was  up,  they  were  scorched;    and  because  they  had  no 

7  root,  they  withered  away.     And  some  fell  among  thorns ;  and 

8  the  thorns  sprung  up,  and  choked  them.  But  other  fell  into 
good  ground ;  and  brought  forth  fruit,  some  an  hundred-fold, 

9  some  sixty-fold,  some  thirty-fold.     Who  hath  ears  to  hear,  let 

10  him  hear. And  the  disciples  came,   and  said  unto  him, 

11  Why  speakest  thou  unto  them  in  parables  ?  He  answered  and 
said  unto  them:  Because  it  is  given  unto  you  to  know  the 
mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven ;   but  to  them  it  is  not 

12  given.      For  whosoever  hath,  to  him  shall  be  given,  and  he 

2.  a  ship]  or  rather  a  boat  adapt-  of  Heaven,  in  the  church  abound- 
ed in  its  form  and  dimensions  to  the  ing  in  Christian  virtiies  and  graces, 
size  of  the  lake,  and  the  purposes  in  the  community  where  Christian 
for  wliich  it  was  used.  ideas  and  affections  ai-e  bringing 
and  sat]  while  the  multitude  stood,  forth  their  pure  and  peaceable  and 
"  So  was  the  manner  of  tlie  nation,  beautiful  fruits,  that  the  truths  of 
that  the  masters,  when  they  read  our  religion  are  to  be  seen.  Their 
their  lectures,  sat,  and  the  scholars  Aviiole  character  and  influence  can 
stood."  Lightfoot.  3.  Be-  be  recognized  only  in  that  world 
hold,  a  sower  Avent  forth  to  where  all  the  harvest  matm-ed  and 
sow]  The  literal  translation  is  perfected  is  gathered  in. 
more  picturesque,  and  biings  the  11.  mysteries  of  the  kingdom 
whole  scene  more  vividly  before  us,  of  Heaven]  the  system  of  Divine 
"  Bihol'l,  the  soioer  went  forth  to  sow.''''  counsels,  doctrines,  and  ordinances. 
There  is  a  profound  truth  conveyed  which,  as  above  man's  powers  of 
under  this  image  of  sowing  seed,  discovery,  was  revealed  through 
The  truths  which  Jesus  taught  were  Jesus  Christ.  The  word  mystery, 
not  dead  and  unproductive ;  but  "  when  used  in  the  New  Testament 
seeds  endowed  Avith  an  inward  vi-  respecting  any  doctrine  or  truth, 
tality,  and  to  l)e  understood  and  ap-  means  one  which  has  been  secret  or 
predated  only  in  the  living  j)lants  unknown,  but  is  now  revealed.  It 
and  luxuriant  harvests  into  which  never  denotes  one  which  is  obscure 
they  should  groAv  up  when  received  or  mysterious,  because  partially  in- 
into  good  and  honest  hearts.  It  is  compreliensilile."  Norton. 
in  the  soul  ripened  for  the  kingdom  12.  whosoever  hath]    In  proper- 


252  MATTHEW    XIII. 

shall  have  more  abundance ;  but  whosoever  hath  not,  from  him 
shall  be  taken  away  even  that  he  hath.     Therefore  speak  I  to  13 
them  in  parables,  because  they  seeing  see  not,  and  hQaring 
they  hear  not,  neither  do  they  understand.     And  in  them  is  14 
fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  Esaias,  which  saith :  "  By  hearing  ye 
shall  hear,  and  shall  not  vmderstand ;  and  seeing  ye  shall  see, 
and  shall  not  perceive.     For  this  people's  heart  is  waxed  gross,  is 
and  their  ears  are  dull  of  hearing,  and  their  eyes  they  have 
closed,  lest  at  any  time  they  should  see  with  their  eyes,  and 
hear  with  their  ears,  and  should  understand  with  their  heart, 
and  should  be  converted,  and  I  should  heal  them."    But  blessed  16 
are  your  eyes,  for  they  see ;    and  your  ears,  for  they  hear. 
For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  many  prophets  and  righteous  17 
men  have  desired  to  see  those  things  which  ye  see,  and  have 
not  seen  them ;  and  to  hear  those  things  which  ye  hear,  and 

have  not  heard  them. Hear  ye  therefore  the  parable  of  the  I8 

sower.     When  any  one  heareth  the  word  of  the  kingdom,  and  19 
understandeth  it  not,  then  cometh  the  wicked  one,  and  catcheth 
away  that  which  was  sown  in  his  heart ;  this  is  he  which  re- 
ceived seed  by  the  way-side.     But  he  that  received  the  seed  20 
into  stony  places,  the  same  is  he  that  heareth  the  word,  and 
anon  with  joy  receiveth  it ;  yet  hath  he  not  root  in  himself,  21 
but  dureth  for  a  while ;   for  when  tribulation  or  persecution 

tion  to  a  man's  spiritual  suscepti-  Apostles.  A  great  spiritual  fact, 
bility  and  his  fidelity  will  be  what  like  that  which  is  here  announced 
he  gains  from  the  teachings  and  in  the  blinding  and  hardenino;  effect 
life  of  Jesus.  14.  in' them  of  sin,  reaches  forward  with  its  pro- 
is  fulfilled]  "  In  them  is  filled  phetic  warning  to  all  times,  and  is 
lip,"  or  re-fulfilled,  "  the  prophecy  fulfilled  in  the  religious  experience 
of  Isaiah,"  i.  e.  what  the  prophet  of  all  who  belong  to  the  class  Avhich 
said  (Isa.  vi.  9,  10)  of  the  blind-  it  points  out.  In  verses  14  and  15,  is 
ing  effect,  in  his  day,  of  disobedi-  ascribed  to  the  perverse  and  unbe- 
ence  and  practical  infidelity,  finds  lieving  Jews,  in  the  language  of  the 
its  fulfilment,  and  is  equally  true  prophet,  the  effect  of  such  wicked- 
iiow.  John,  xii.  38-40,  applies  the  ness  as  theirs,  Avhich  was  to  dull 
same  words  on  another  occasion,  their  religious  sensibilities,  "  This 
and  many  years  afterwards,  Paul  people's  heart  is  waxed  gi-oss."  —  to 
(Acts  xxviii.  25-27)  applied  them  cloud  their  spiritual  perceptions, — 
with  great  emphasis  to  the  uiibeliev-  "  their  ears  are  dull  of  hearing,  and 
ing  Jews  in  Rome.  In  these  differ-  their  eyes  thev  have  closed,"  —  so 
ent  applications  of  the  same  pro-  that  they  could  not  at  any  time  — 
phetic  words  as  beinjr  fulfilled  in  "lest  at  anv  time  thev  should  "  — 
different  people,  at  different  times,  see  and  understand  their  true  con- 
and  under  different  circumstances,  dition,  and  turn  in  penitence —  "  he 
we  have  an  intimation  of  one  of  the  converted  "  —  to  Ood,  and  be  healed 
ways  in  which  the  ancient  prophe-  bv  him.  20.  stony  places") 
cies  were  applied  by  Jesus  and  the  Eather,  rocky    ground,  —  a    little 


MATTHEW   XIII.  253 

22  ariseth  because  of  the  word,  by  and  by  he  is  offended.  He 
also  that  received  seed  among  the  thorns  is  he  that  heareth  the 
word,  and  the  care  of  this  world,  and  the  deceitfulness  of  riches, 

23  choke  the  word,  and  he  becometh  unfruitful.  But  he  that  re- 
ceived seed  into  the  good  ground  is  he  that  heareth  the  word, 
and  understandeth  it ;  which  also  beareth  fruit,  and  bringeth 
forth,   some    an    hundred-fold,   some    sixty,    some    thirty. 

24  Another  parable  put  he  forth  unto  them,  saying :  The  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  likened  unto  a  man  which  sowed  good  seed  in  his 

25  field.     But  while  men  slept,  his  enemy  came,  and  sowed  tares 

26  among  the  wheat ;  and  went  his  way.  But  when  the  blade 
was  sprung  up,  and    brought  forth  fruit,  then   appeared  the 

27  tares  also.  So  the  servants  of  the  householder  came  and  said 
unto  him,  Sir,  didst  not  thou  sow  good  seed  in  thy  field  ?  from 

28  whence  then  hath  it  tares  ?  He  said  unto  them,  An  enemy 
hath  done  this.     The  servants  said  unto  him.  Wilt  thou  then 

29  that  we  go  and  gather  them  up  ?  But  he  said.  Nay ;  lest 
while  ye  gather  up  the  tares,  ye  root  up  also  the  wheat  with 

30  them.  Let  both  grow  together  until  the  harvest ;  and  in  the 
time  of  harvest  I  will  say  to  the  reapers.  Gather  ye  together 
first  the  tares,  and  bind  them  in  bundles,  to  burn  them ;  but 


earth  scattered  on  the  large  rocks  is  represented,  31,  32,  as  a  plant, 
■which  lie  beneath.  23.  he  spreading  out  its  branches,  and  fur- 
that  heareth  the  word,  and  nishing  shelter  to  those  who  seek  it. 
understandeth  it]  contrasted  with  Next  it  is  represented,  33,  as  an  in- 
him,  v.  19,  who  heareth  and  uiider-  fluence,  reaching  through  the  man, 
standeth  not.  24.  The  king-  or  the -world,  subduing  and  assimilat- 
dom  of  Heaven]  Literally,  the  ing  all  things  to  itself.  Then  it  ap- 
kingdom  of  the  heavens,  as  if  to  de-  pears,  44,  as  a  hidden  treasure,  to 
note  different  spheres  of  life,  one  be-  set  forth  its  exceeding  preciousness, 
yond  another,  and  all  pervaded  by  as  a  pearl  of  great  price,  to  indicate 
the  spirit  of  God.  The  widely  differ-  at  once  its  costliness  and  its  beaiity ; 
ent  applications  of  the  terin  in  this  and  finally,  47,  48,  as  a  net  drawiiig 
chapter  show  how  comprehensive  good  and  bad  alike  into  its  folds, 
and  how  various  Avas  the  thought  out  of  the  sea  of  time  to  the  shores 
which  Jesus  set  forth,  and  how  rich  of  eternity,  that  they  may  there  be 
and  full  of  meaning  his  language  separated  according  to  what  they 
was.  Having  ascertained  precisely  are.  25  -  40.  tares]  a 
what  his  words  mean  in  one  case,  species  of  darnel  or  bastard  wheat, 
we  are  not  therefore  at  liberty  to  fix  Avhich,  according  to  St.  Jerome,  who 
on  that  as  their  only  interpretation  lived  in  Palestine,  was,  till  the  ear 
■whenever  we  may  meet  them.  The  was  formed,  so  much  like  the  good 
kingdom  of  Henven  is  here  first  rep-  wheat  that  it  could  not,  without 
resented,  24-29,  38-43,  as  a  king-  much  difl^culty,  be  distinguished 
dom  embracing,  not  those  alone  who  from  it.  His  enemy  "sowed  [the 
continue  good,  but  also  those  who  field]  over  a(/ain  "  [fVeoTretpfi'] 
are  cormpted  by  evil  influences.     It  -with  tares,     the  force  of  the  origi- 


254 


MATTHEW    XIII. 


gather  the  wheat  into  my  barn. Another  parable  put  he  3i 

forth  unto  them  saying:    The  kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  to  a 
grain  of  mustard  seed,  which  a  man  took  and  sowed  in  his  field. 
Which  indeed  is  the  least  of  all  seeds ;  but  when  it  is  grown,  32 
it  is  the  greatest  among  herbs,  and  become th  a  tree,  so  that 
the  birds  of  the  air  come  and  lodge  in  the  branches  thereof. 

Another  parable  spake  he  unto  them:  The  kingdom  of  33 

Heaven  is  like  unto  leaven,  which  a  woman  took,  and  hid  in 

three  measures  of  meal,  till  the  whole  was  leavened. All  34 

these  things  spake  Jesus  unto  the  multitude  in  parables,  and 
without  a  parable  spake  he  not  unto  them ;  that  it  might  be  35 
fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet,  saying:    "I  will 
open  my  mouth  in  parables;    I  will  utter  things  which  have 
been  kept  secret  from  the  foundation  of  the  world." 

Then  Jesus  sent  the  multitude  away,   and  went  into  the  36 
house.     And  his  disciples  came  unto  him,  saying.  Declare  unto 
us  the  parable  of  the  tares  of  the  field.     He  answered  and  said  37 
unto  them,  He  that  sowetli  the  good  seed  is  the  Son  of  man; 
the  field  is  the  world ;    the  good  seed   are   the   children  of  38 
the  kingdom ;  but  the  tares  are  the  children  of  the  wicked 


nal  word  is  impaired  in  our  ver- 
sion. Tlie  man,  v.  24,  j^owed;  his 
enemy  sowed  over  again,  or  upon 
what  had  already  been  sown. 

32.  so  that  the  birds 
of  the  air  come  and  lodge  iu 
its  branches]  Haclvet%  ''Illus- 
trations of  Scripture,"  p.  124,  speaks* 
of  this  plant,  which  he  found  in 
blossom,  full  grown,  in  some  cases 
six,  seven,  and  nine  feet  high.  "  But 
still,"  he  says,  "  the  branches  or 
stems  of  the  branches  were  not  very 
large,  or,  apparently,  very  strong. 
'  Can  the  birds,'    I  said  to  myself, 

'rest  upon    them?'     At 

that  very  instant one  of  tlie 

fowls  of  heaven  stopped  in  its  flight 
througli  the  air,  alighted  down  on 
one  of  the  branches,  which  hardly 
moved  beneath  the  shock,  and  then 
began,  percheil  there  before  my 
eyes,  to  warble  forth  a  strain  of  the 
richest  music."  The  mustard-seed 
and  the  plant  growing  from  it  illus- 
trate the  self-developing  power  by 
which  the  religion  of  Jesus,  froiii 


the  smallest  beginnings,  spreads  out 
its  brandies  for  those  who  might 
seek  a  shelter  within  them. 
33.  leaveu]  The  leaven  shows  its 
power  of  imparting  its  own  proper- 
ties to  those  who  receive  it,  and 
assimilating  them  till  they  partake 
of  its  own  nature.  "  Another  strik- 
ing point  of  comparison,"  says  Al- 
ford,  "  is  the  fact  that  leaven,  as 
used  ordinarily,  is  a  piece  of  the 
leavened  loaf  put  amongst  the 
dough,  just  as  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  the  renewal  of  humanity 
by  the  righteous  ]M:in  Christ  Jesus." 
38.  the  field  is  the 
world]  Koa-fios,  the  wo  rid,  thU  ont- 
ward  universe  or  world,  according  to 
our  use  of  the  word.  But  in  the  next 
verse,  in  the  clause  the  har- 

vest is  the  end  of  the  world] 
entirely  a  different  word  is  used. 
There  it  is  aldiv  or  (eon,  —  an  age 
or  dispensation,  —  referring,  not  to 
the  outward  universe,  but  in  this 
case  including  our  earthly  discipline 
and  experience.     The  harvest  is  the 


MATTHEW    XIII. 


255 


39  one ;  the  enemy  that  sowed  them  is  the  devil ;  the  harvest  is 

40  the  end  of  the  world ;  and  the  reapers  are  the  angels.     As, 


consummation  of  the  ceon,  tlie  age, 
or  dispensation  in  which  we  now 
live,  and  our  consequent  entrance 
on  another,  and  (with  tlie  faithful) 
higher  age  or  dispensation.  Aia)v, 
as  applied  to  the  Jews,  includes 
everything  relating  to  their  condi- 
tion and  experience  under  the  Mo- 
saic dispensation,  and  the  consum- 
mation of  the  (eon,  —  the  end  of  the 
world,  —  to  them  was  the  overthrow 
of  the  Jewish  polity  at  the  destnic- 
tion  of  Jeiaisalera  'in  the  year  70, 
and  the  consequent  advent  of  a  new 
ceon,  —  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
man,  —  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Christian  religion,  Avhich  was  the 
fulfilment  or  consummation  of  the 
Jewish  dispensation.  But  in  its 
wider  application,  as  in  the  passage 
before  us,  ceon  refers  to  our  whole 
earthly  dispensation  and  experience, 
and  includes  everything  that  may 
act  upon  us  in  this  life.  The  con- 
summation of  the  ceon,  or  end  of  the 
world,  means  the  consummation  of 
our  earthly  life,  whether  for  good  or 
for  evil.  But  on  leaving  this  ceon, 
we  enter  into  another,  and  the  ad- 
jective, al(i)vioSi  or  ceonian,  which 
is  translated  eternal  and  everlasting 
(Matt.  XXV.  46),  is  borrowed  from 
this  next  ceon,  and  is  applied  to 
qualities  and  conditions,  which, 
whether  for  weal  or  woe,  shall  be- 
long to  ixs  in  that  more  advanced 
stage  of  our  existence.  '■'Eternal 
life  "  is  the  blessedness  which  be- 
longs to  that  condition  of  our  being, 
and  which,  in  its  elementary  prin- 
ciples, as  .Jesus  has  said  (Jolin  vi. 
47),  may  begin  within  us  now;  and 
eternal  (not  everlasting,  for  the 
idea  of  time  is  not  included  in  the 
word),  —  "  eternal  punishment  "  is 
the  son*ow  and  anguish  which  shall 
belong  to  those  who  enter  unpre- 
pared into  that  more  advanced  ceon 
or  stage  of  existence,  and  which,  in 
its  elementary  principles,  may  begin 
Avithin  us  now.  See  p.  229.  39.  the 
enemy  that  sowed  them  is  the 
devil]  We  must  be  careful  not  to 
press  this  matter  too  fai*.     The  ex- 


istence of  evil  spirits,  and  especially 
of  one  pre-eminent  among  them  as 
the  wicked  one,  the  devil,  or  Satan,  is 
not  to  be  held  to  by  us  as  among  the 
facts  which  Jesus  has  unquestion- 
ably taught.  Our  view  of  the  sub- 
ject has  been  stated  in  Chapters  IV. 
and  VIII.  We  have  no  doubt  that 
the  Evangelists  believed  in  such  ex- 
istences and  agencies.  From  a 
careful  study  of  the  language  of 
Jesus,  we  incline  to  think  that  he 
also  believed  in  them.  But  a  close 
and  critical  examination  of  all  that 
he  has  said  on  the  subject  has  satis- 
fied us,  1.  That  he  did  not  directly 
teach  the  existence  and  agency 
of  such  beings;  and,  2.  That  in 
almost  every  case  where  he  speaks 
of  the  devifor  Satan,  his  words  are 
certainly  to  be  taken  in  a  figurative 
sense.  The  word  Satan  is  used  six- 
teen times  in  the  Gospels  ;  but,  ex- 
cept in  the  passages  given  below, 
viz.  1,  4,  and  7,  where  it  is  used  as 
synonymous  Avith  devil,  it  occurs 
onlv  on  five  different  occasions. 
1.  Matt.  xii.  26:  "If  Satan  cast 
out  Satan,"  Avhere  Jesus  is  arguing 
Avith  the  JcAvs  from  their  OAvn  point 
of  vicAv.  2.  Matt.  xA'i.  23:  "Get 
thee  behind  me,  Satan,"  A\'ords  ad- 
di-essed to  Peter.  3.  Luke  x.  18 :  "I 
beheld  Satan  as  lightning  foil  from 
heaven,"  language  evidently  figura- 
tive. 4.  Luke  xiii.  16:  "  Whom 
Satan  hath  bound,  lo !  these  eighteen 
years,"  language  personifying  the 
cause  of  disease  as  Satan.  "^5.  Luke 
xxii.  31 :  "  Behold,  Satan  hath 
sought  for  you,  that  he  may  sift 
you  as  Avheat."  The  principles  of 
spiritual  CAil  may  be  pei'sonified 
here  as  that  of  physical  evil  in  the 
preAaous  passage.  In  eA-ery  one  of 
these  cases  the  expression  may  be 
construed  as  a  striking  and  natural 
figure  of  speech  Avithout  necessarily 
implying  the  personal  existence  of 
an  evil  spirit.  The  Avord  devil, 
Sta/3oXos,  not  demon,  occurs  in  the 
Gospels  on  seven  different  occasions: 
1.  In  the  account  of  the  Tempta- 
tion.   2.  Matt.  xiii.  39 :  "  The  ene- 


256 


MATTHEW   XIII. 


therefore,  the  tares  are  gathered  and  burned  in  the  fire,  so 
shall  it  be  in  the  end  of  this  Avorld.     The   Son  of  man  shall  41 


my  that  sowed  them  is  the  devil." 
3.  Matt.  XXV.  41 :  "  Into  everlasting 
fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his 
angels."  4.  Luke  viii.  12:  "Then 
Cometh  the  devil  and  taketh  away 
the  word  out  of  their  hearts,"  par- 
allel to  Matt.  xiii.  19,  where  the  ex- 
pression "the  wicked  one"  is  used, 
and  to  Mark  iv.  15,  where  the  word 
"Satan"  is  used.  5.  John  vi.  70: 
"  Have  not  I  chosen  you  twelve,  and 
one  of  you  is  a  devil?"  6.  John 
viii.  44:  "  Ye  are  of  your  fivther,  the 
devil."  7.  John  xiii.  2:  "  The  devil 
having  put  it  into  the  heart  of  Judas 
Iscariot  to  betray  him."  In  verse 
27  of  the  same  chapter,  it  reads, 
"  And  after  the  sop,  Satan  entered 
into  him." 

The  first  and  seventh  of  these 
instances  may  be  set  aside  as  the 
language  of  the  Evangelists,  and  not 
of  Jesus.  The  seventh  may  be  in- 
terpi-eted  figuratively ;  and  as  to  the 
first,  we  refer  to  our  comments  on 
the  account  of  the  Temptation  in 
Chapter  IV. 

The  fifth  case,  "  Have  I  not 
chosen  you  twelve,  and  one  of  you 
is  a  devil?"  is  certainly  figurative, 
and  gives  a  decisive  intimation  of 
the  way  in  which  the  word  may 
have  been  used  by  Jesus.  It  is  prob- 
able that  this  'expression  refer- 
ring to  Judas  may  have  led  to  the 
use  of  the  same  term  by  St.  John, 
wlien  speaking  of  Judas  in  the  sev- 
enth instance. 

The  sixth  case  is  as  follows :  "  Ye 
are  of  your  fixther,  the  devil,  and  the 
lusts  of  your  father  ye  wish  to  do. 
He  was  a  murderer  from  the  begin- 
ning, and  stood  not  in  the  truth; 
because  there  is  no  truth  in  him. 
When  he  speaketh  a  lie,  he  speaketh 
of  his  own;  for  he  is  a  liar,  and  the 
father  of  it."  The  natural  and  ob- 
vious interpretation,  at  first  sight, 
of  this  rather  extended  description 
of  the  devil,  would  be  a  literal  one  ■ 
applying  to  a  personal  being  actu- 
ally existing  and  answering  to  this 
character  ;  but  on  a  closer  inspec- 
tion of  the  passage,  we  see  that  the 
woi'd  father  cannot  be  used  in  a 


literal,  but  only  in  a  spiritual  sense; 
and  does  not  this  almost  require,  in 
order  to  the  harmony  and  complete- 
ness of  the  meaning,  that  the  rest 
of  the  passage  should  likewise  be 
taken,  not  in  its  literal,  but  in  its 
spiritual  sense  ?  Is  not  the  extended 
description  given  to  show  in  what 
sense  Jesus  used  the  Avoi-d,  devil, 
viz.  as  the  impersonation  of  wicked- 
ness ?  —  Ye  are  of  your  father  the 
devil,  that  spirit  of  wickedness, 
which  prompted  to  the  first  mur- 
der, wdiich  is  the  veiy  essence  and 
parent  of  what  is  false ;  and  on  ac- 
count of  your  affinity  with  it,  ye 
believe  me  not,  because  I  tell  you 
the  tnith.  As  he  had  a  little  while 
before  referred  to  Judas  as  a  devil 
(John  vi.  70),  because  of  his  wick- 
edness, so  he  may  here  call  the  Jews 
the  children  of  the  devil,  because  of 
their  affinity  Avith  what  is  evil.  As 
in  the  one  case,  the  word  devil  as 
the  personification  of  wickedness  is 
applied  to  a  bad  man,  why  may  it 
not  in  the  other  case  be  used  in  the 
same  way  as  the  personification  of 
evil,  especially  of  murder  and  false- 
hood, to  describe  the  spirit  and  tem- 
per of  the  Jews  who  Avere  seeking 
his  life  and  refusing  to  receive  the 
truth?  Does  not  this  better  adapt 
itself  to  the  inward  and  profound 
thought  of  Jesus,  than  the  interpre- 
tation which  requires  him  here  to 
speak  literally  of  a  personal  devil 
in  his  direct  and  personal  relation  to 
them  ?  Even  if  Jesus  had  believed 
in  such  a  being,  Avould  not  this  figu- 
rative and  spiritual  application  of 
the  term  be  more  natural  and  more 
in  accordance  with  his  usual  mode 
of  speech? 

In  the  fourth  case,  "  Then  cometli 
the  devil,  and  taketh  the  Avord  out 
of  their  hearts,"  or,  as  it  is  in  Matt, 
xiii.  19 :  "  Then  cometh  the  Avicked 
one  and  catcheth  aAvay  that  Avhich 
is  soAvn  in  his  heart,"  the  Avhole 
sentence  is  figurative,  and  this  Avord 
is  plainly  used  to  personify  the  evil 
influences  Avliich  remove  from  shal- 
loAV  minds  the  truths  Avhich  they 
gladly  receive  in  a  moment  of  re- 


MATTHEW   XIII. 


257 


send  forth  his  angels,  and  they  shall  gather  out  of  his  kingdom 

42  all  things  that  offend,  and  them  which  do  iniquity,  and  shall 
cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire  ;  there  shall  be  wailing  and 

43  gnashing  of  teeth.     Then  shall  the  righteous  shine  forth,  as 
the  sun,  in  the  kingdom  of  their  Father.     Who  hath  ears  to 

44  hear,  let  him  hear. Again  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like 

unto  treasure  hid  in  a  field,  the  which,  when  a  man  hath  found, 
he  hideth,  and  for  joy  thereof  goeth  and  selleth  all  that  he 

45  hath,  and  buyeth  that  field. Again  the  kingdom  of  Heav- 

46  en  is  like  unto  a  merchant-man,  seeking  goodly  pearls ;  who, 


Hgious  excitement,  but  which  they 
do  not  understand. 

There  remain  now  only  two  pas- 
sages to  be  considered.  One  is  the 
awful  declai'ation,  "  Depart  from 
me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting 
fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and 
his  angels."  The  other  is  the  pas- 
sage before  us,  "  The  enemy  that 
sowed  them  is  the  devil."  It  may 
be,  that  Jesus  meant  nothing  more 
in  either  case  than  the  impersonation 
of  evil.  The  accompanying  lan- 
guage in  both  instances  is  intensely 
figurative.  It  is  difficult  to  distin- 
guish between  the  main  point  of  his 
instructions  and  the  images  under 
which  it  was  conveyed.  But  tlie 
presumption  to  our  mind  is,  that  in 
using  language  such  as  this,  he 
does  imply  the  actual,  personal  ex- 
istence of  such  beings  as  are  sug- 
gested by  the  words,  "  the  devil  and 
his  angels."  He  has  never  directly 
taught  the  existence  of  such  beings. 
Every  passage  in  which  they  are 
spoken  of  may  be  interpreted  figur- 
atively, without  any  violent  wrench 
to  tlie"^  language.  Still,  the  impres- 
sion left  upon  us  is  that  Jesus  did 
believe  in  a  vast  backgTound  of  evil 
beyond  what  we  can  see,  —  an  em- 
pire of  darkness  where  evil  spirits 
live,  from  which  evil  influences 
have  been  permitted  to  enter,  even 
into  this  world,  and  whose  power  he 
came  to  overthrow.  The  result  of 
this  whole  investigation,  Avhich  we 
have  carefully  gone  through  many 
times,  as  a  matter  of  Scriptural 
interpretation,  has  been  to  leave  us 
very  decidedly  with  the  impression 
that  Jesus  did  believe  in  evil  spirits, 

22* 


and  the  disastrous  influence  which 
they  might  exercise  over  men  Avho 
allowed  themselves  to  be  acted 
upon  by  them.  But  we  find  very 
little  evidence  that  he  believed  in 
Satan  or  the  devil  as  a  real,  per- 
sonal being,  who  ruled  over  the 
realm  of  evil  spirits,  as  a  king  over 
his  subjects.  It  does  not  seem 
entirely  certain  to  us ;  but  we  think 
the  most  natui-al  and  satisfactory 
explanation  of  his  language,  on 
the  principles  of  a  just  and  exact 
interpretation,  is  to  be  found  in 
the  supposition  that  he  alluded  to 
Satan  or  the  devil  as  the  personifica- 
tion of  wickedness,  and  in  that  sense 
called  him  the  Prince  of  Devils,  and 
spoke  of  Mm  and  his  angeh,  as  he 
called  him  the  fiither  of  the  mur- 
dei'ous  and  lying  Jews,  and  spoke  of 
him  as  the  prince  of  this  world. 
(John  xii.  31,  xiv.  30,  xvi.  11.) 
Evil  spirits  were  his  angels  and 
subjects,  just  as  Avicked  men  were 
his  children,  in  a  figurative,  and  not 
a  literal  sense.  44.  treas- 

ure hid  ill  a  field]  The  king- 
dom of  Heaven,  i.  e.  the  religion  of 
Jesus,  is  like  a  hidden  treasure, 
which  a  man,  while  employed  ou 
other  things,  discovers,  and  with 
joy  secures  for  himself.  His  hid- 
ing it,  Avhile  he  went  to  purchase 
the  field,  is  one  of  the  adjuncts, 
which,  though  indicating  the  gi'eat 
value  of  what  had  been  found,  is 
not  to  b'fe  construed  as  having  any 
direct  bearing  on  the  main  object 
of  tlie  parable.  45,  46.  As  a 

conti-ast  to  the  man  who  happened 
to  find  the  treasure  is  tlie  merchant- 
man who,  while  seeking  for  beauti' 


2.'>8  MATTHEW    XIII. 

when  he  had  found  one  2:)carl  of  great  price,  went  and  sohl  all 

that  he  had,  and  bought  it. Again  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  47 

is  like  unto  a  net,  that  was  cast  into  the  sea,  and  gathered  of 
every  kind ;  which,  when  it  was  full,  they  drew  to  shore,  and  48 
sat  down  and  gathered  the  good  into  vessels,  but  cast  the  bad 
away.     So  shall  it  be  at  the  end  of  the  world.     The   angels  49 
shall  come  forth,  and  sever  the  wicked  from  among  the  just, 
and  shall  cast  them  into  the  furnace  of  fire ;    there  shall  be  so 

wailing  and   gnashing  of  teeth. Jesus  saith   unto   them,  5i 

Have  ye  understood  all  these  things?     They  say  unto  him, 
Yea,  Lord.     Then  said  he  unto  them.  Therefore  every  scribe,  52 
which  is  instructed  unto  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  is  like  unto  a 
man  that  is  an  householder,  which  bringeth  forth  out  of  his 

treasure  things  new  and  old. And  it  came  to  pass,  that,  53 

when  Jesus  had  finished  these  parables,  he  departed  thence. 

And  when  he  was  come  into  his  own  country,  he  taught  54 
them  in  their  synagogue,  insomuch  that  they  were  astonished, 
and  said,  AVhence  hath  this  man  this  wisdom,  and  these  mighty 
works  ?     Is  not  this  the  carpenter's  son  ?     Is  not  his  mother  55 
called  Mary  ?  and  his  brethren,  James,  and  Joses,  and  Simon, 

ful  pearls,  found  one  very  costly,  ing  that  they  were  not  in  a  state  of 

and  went  and  sold  all  that  he  had  mind  to  be  benefited  by  it,  refused 

in  order  to  purchase  it.  to  perform  (Luke  iv.  24-27)  many 

52.  Therefore]      For  this  reason,  miracles  among  them.      Their  un- 

i.  e.   taking  into  account   the   new  belief,  58,  does  not  refer  so  much  to 

truths   and  hopes   and    life   which  the  fact  that  they  did  not,  as  tliat 

have    been    here    set    forth,  every  they  Avould  not,  believe.      It   indi- 

Scribe,   who   is    instracted   in    my  cates  a  spirit  of  unbelief  wliich  set 

religion,  being  already   learned   in  itself  against   him,  and   Avould  not 

the  law,  is  like  a  householder  who  be  convinced  by  anything  that  he 

brings  out  from  his  treasury  things  might  do.    "  Is  not  this,"  they  asked 

both    new  and    old.     It   was    cus-  contemptuously,    "  the    carpenter's 

tomary  in  the  East  to  pi-eserve  in  son  ?      Is    not    his    mother    called 

houses   costly  garments   and  other  Mary  ?  and  his  brethren,  James,  and 

articles  for  many  generations;  and  Joses,  and  Simon,  and  Judas?    And 

this  perhaps  is  what  more  particu-  his  sisters,  are  they  not  all  with  us  ?" 
larly  suggested  the  comparison.  55.  aiid  his  brethren] 

53-58.  He  went  into  his  OAvn  Who  were  the  brethren  of  Jesus? 

country,  i.  e.  to  Nazareth.    For  a  ful-  This    has    been,    among    commen- 

ler  account  of  what  occurred  there,  tators,  one  of  the  difficult  questions, 

see     Luke     iv.   16  -  24.      Though  and  the  ablest  among  them  have 

Jesus  had  astonished  them  by  his  given  different  answers.    The  breth- 

wisdom  and  his  mighty  works,  still  ren  of  Jesus  are  spoken  of  on  six 

tbey   found   a    stvunbllng-block    to  different   occasions,  viz.   Matt.   xii. 

their  belief  in   the    fiict,   that  his  46,  and   parallel  passages  in   Mark 

fatlier,  the  carpenter,  and  his  breth-  and  Luke;  the  present  passage  and 

ren   or    kinsmen,   were    known    to  its  parallel,  Mark  vi.  3;  John  ii.  12; 

them  as  ordiuary  men.    Jesus,  see-  vii.  3,  5, 10;  Acts  i.  14;  1  Cor.  ix.  5. 


MATTHEW   XIII. 


259 


66  and  Judas  ?  and  his  sisters,  are  tliey  not  all  with  us  ?  whence 
57  then  hath  this  man  all  these  things  ?     And  they  were  offended 

in  him.  But  Jesus  said  unto  them,  A  prophet  is  not  witliout 
68  honor,  save  in  his  own  country,  and  in  his  own  house.     And  he 

did  not  many  mighty  works  there,  because  of  their  unbelief. 


Mr.  Norton,  in  his  note  on  this  pas- 
sage, sujiposes  that  "  the  brethren" 
or  "kinsmen"  of  Jesus, — for  the 
original  allows  either  interpreta- 
tion, —  were  the  sons  of  Alpheus 
(the  same  name  in  Hebrew  as  Clopas 
or  Cleopas),  whose  wife  Mary  is 
said  (John  xix.  25)  to  be  the  sister 
or  kinswoman  of  Mary  the  Mother 
of  Jesus.  In  Matt,  xxvii.  56,  ]\Iark 
XV.  40,  she  is  said  to  be  the  mother 
of  James  and  Joses,  i.  e.  Joseph. 
Luke,  in  his  catalogue  of  the  Apos- 
tles (Luke  vi.  16;  Acts  i.  13),  men- 
tions Judas  of  James,  i.  e.  the  sou 
or  brother  of  James.  Thus  we 
have,  applied  to  the  sons  either  of 
Alpheus,  or  of  his  wife  Mary,  three 
of  the  names,  which  are  here  ap- 
plied to  the  brethren  of  Jesus,  viz. 
James  and  Joses  and  Judas.  Would 
these  tln-ee  names  be  likely  to  be 
repeated  in  two  different  branches 
of  the  same  fomily?  Is  it  not  more 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  these 
brethren  of  Jesus,  as  they  are  called, 
were  the  sons  of  Alpheus  (Cleopas) 
and  Mary,  of  Avhom  at  least  two, 
James  and  Judas,  and  possibly,  as 
Mr.  Norton  supposes,  a  thix'd,  Simon, 
were  among  the,Apostles  ?    The  re- 


ply is:  1.  That  the  names  were 
among  the  most  common  Jewish 
names,  and  might  be  repeated  in 
two  different  branches  of  the  same 
family.'  We  are  acquainted  with 
three'^different  branches  of  a  family 
in  each  of  which  may  be  found  the 
names  William,  James,  and  John.  2. 
The  brethren  of  Jesus  spoken  of  in 
John  vii.  5,  following  John  ii.  12 ;  vii. 
3,  did  not  at  that  time  believe  on  him, 
and  therefore  they  could  not  have 
been  among  the  Apostles.  3.  Where- 
ever  they  are  mentioned  in  the  New 
Testament,  except  in  the  seventh 
chapter  of  John,  and  1  Cor.  ix.  5, 
they  are  mentioned  in  connection 
with  ]\Iary,  the  JMother  of  Jesus. 
For  these  reasons,  we  svippose  that 
the  brethren  of  Jesus  Avere  the  sons 
of  Joseph,  though  they  may  not  have 
been  the  sons  of  Mary.  James,  the 
son  of  Alpheus,  was  probably  the 
James  whom  St.  Paul  speaks  of 
(Gal.  i.  19)  as  "the  brother  of  the 
Lord."  Nor  is  it  improbable  that 
James  and  Judas,  sons  of  Alpheus, 
are  "  the  brethren  of  the  Lord," 
whom  he  refers  to,  1  Cor.  ix.  5,  as 
among  the  Apostles. 


2  GO  MATTHEW   XIV.    1  -  12. 


CHAPTEH     XIY. 

Herod  A^^^tipas. 

1-12.  Of  Herod  Antipas  some  account  has  already  been 
given  in  chap.  xi.  Contemporary  records,  to  those  who  care 
to  enter  into  such  horrible  details,  furnish  examples  enough  to 
show  that  the  beheading  of  John,  with  the  revolting  circum- 
stances attending  it,  was  no  extraordinary  instance  of  cruelty 
in  those  times.  Lardner,  Part  I.  Bk.  I.  Chap.  I.  Plerod  seems 
to  have  been  a  weak  and  crafty,  —  for  the  two  qualities 
often  go  together,  —  rather  than  an  able  and  cruel  man,  as 
his  father,  Herod  the  Great,  whom  we  find  in  the  second 
chapter  of  Matthew,  had  been.  When  he  was  on  a  visit 
to  his  half-brother,  Philip,  a  private  citizen,  and  not  to  be 
confounded  with  Philip,  the  Tetrach  of  Ituroea  and  Tracho- 
nitis,  mentioned  in  Luke  iii.  1,  he  became  enamored  of  his 
brother's  wife,  Herodias,  whom  he  persuaded  to  leave  her 
husband,  and  to  marry  him.  This  act  was  a  violation  of  the 
Jewish  law,  and  called  down  on  Herod  a  severe  rebuke 
from  the  stern  preacher  in  the  wilderness,  who  thus 
incurred  her  lasting  displeasure.  She  was  a  bold,  bad, 
unscrupulous  woman.  "  Josephus,"  says  Dr.  Lardner,  "  has 
represented  Herodias  as  a  woman  full  of  ambition  and  envy, 
as  having  a  mighty  influence  on  Herod,  and  able  to 
persuade  him  to  things  he  was  not  of  himself  at  all  inclined 
to."  It  is  therefore  entirely  in  chai'acter  with  all  that  we 
know  of  her,  that  in  her  anger  against  John,  she  should,  as 
we  read  (Mark  vi.  19),  seek  to  destroy  him,  and  that  she 
should  have  recourse  to  indirect  means  for  revenging  her- 
self, when  she  had  failed  in  other  ways  to  accomplish  her 
purpose.      It  was  undoubtedly  by  her  direction,  that  her 


MATTHEW    XIV.    1  -  12.  261 

daughter  Salome,  at  a  feast  on  the  birthday  of  Herod,  wlien 
he  was  probably  heated  with  wine,  won  his  favor  by  dancing 
before  him,  and  gained  from  him  a  promise,  given  with  an 
oath,  that  he  would  grant  any  favor  that  she  might  ask  of  him, 
even  (Mark  vi.  23)  to  the  half  of  his  kingdom.  She  went 
to  her  mother,  and  being  instructed  by  her,  came  back 
immediately  with  earnest  haste,  and  said,  "  I  desire  that  thou 
give  me  forthwith  on  a  dish  the  head  of  John  the  Baptist." 
This  extreme  haste  probably  arose  from  a  fear  lest  the  king, 
after  the  .  excitement  of  the  hour  was  over,  should  relent, 
or  refuse  to  grant  her  request.  See  Robinson's  Calmet,  art. 
Antipas.  The  evident  reluctance  of  Herod,  even  then,  to 
comply  with  her  demand  confirms  this  view  of  the  case. 
An  executioner  Avas  sent  immediately,  and  the  head  of  John 
was  brought  to  the  girl,  who  carried  it  to  her  mother. 
John,  as  we  have  seen  in  chapter  xi.  was  imprisoned  near 
the  Dead  Sea.  The  narrative  of  the  Evangelists,  partic- 
ularly that  of  Mark,  indicates  that  he  was  not  far  off  from 
the  festive  party,  Avho  must  therefore  have  been  in  that  part 
of  Herod's  dominions  which  was  most  distant  from  Galilee. 

Herod  had  thus  beheaded  John  from  a  false  sentiment  of 
honor,  and  grievously  against  his  will,  for  he  feared  him, 
(Mark  vi.  20,)  "  knowing  that  he  was  a  righteous  and  holy 
man ; "  and,  though  he  desired  to  put  him  to  death,  he  feared 
the  people,  for  they  accounted  John  as  a  prophet.  The 
circumstances  attendant  on  the  life  of  John,  his  uncompro- 
mising attitude  as  a  prophet  of  God,  the  reverence  in  which 
he  was  held,  and  the  strange  ascendency  which  such  men 
sometimes  gain  over  the  imagination  of  the  worldly  minded 
and  corrupt,  may  have  wrought  with  peculiar  force  on 
Herod,  and  roused  his  superstitious  apprehensions.  So  that 
when  he  heard  of  Jesus  and  his  extraordinaiy  acts,  and  the 
sensation  that  he  was  producing  in  his  dominions,  he  may 
have  been  (Luke  ix.  7)  sorely  perplexed,  and  have  broken 
out  in  the  words  which  were  spoken,  half  in  rage  and  half 
in  fear,  "  John  have  I  beheaded ;  but  who  is  this  ?  "     And 


2C2  JMATTHEW   XIV.    1  -  12. 

in  order  to  allay  his  appreliensions,  to  satisfy  himself 
whether  the  reports  that  he  heard  were  true,  and  also,  as 
we  might  infer  from  the  words  and  conduct  of  Jesus  (Luke 
xiii.  31,  32),  to  get  him  into  his  power,  he  sought  to  see 
him.  At  another  time  his  words,  as  in  the  passage  before 
us,  took  a  different  turn ;  and,  as  Mr.  Norton  in  his  note  on 
Matt.  xiv.  1-12,  suggests,  may  be  regarded  as  the  excited, 
figurative  language  of  an  angry  man ;  as  if  he  had  said : 
"  John  have  I  beheaded.  But  what  have  I  gained  by  it  ? 
Here  we  have  him,  the  same  thing  over  again,  raised  from 
the  dead,  and  therefore  showing  forth  these  powerful  works." 
Herod,  it  has  been  said,  was  a  Sadducee,  and  as  such 
(Matt.  xxii.  23,  Acts  xxiii.  8)  believed  in  "no  resurrec- 
tion, neither  angel  nor  spirit."  We  find  no  evidence  that  he 
was  a  Sadducee.  But  even  if  he  were  so,  it  would  not 
have  secured  him  from  all  dread  of  the  supernatural,  under 
the  circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed.  The  annals  of 
superstition  are  marked  by  no  greater  absurdities  than 
those  which  are  drawn  from  the  most  unbelieving  times. 
Nor  have  any  men,  when  under  the  pressure  of  extraordi- 
nary circumstances  of  emotion,  shown  themselves  more  the 
victims  of  an  unreasonable  credulity  than  those  who  have 
prided  themselves  most  on  their  philosophical  unbelief. 
Herod,  more  than  half  a  Jew,  with  the  superstitious  ideas 
of  his  nation  hanging  over  his  mind,  driven  by  the  more 
powerful  will  of  a  woman  into  crimes  at  which  his  own 
nature  revolted,  on  hearing  from  all  quarters  accounts  of 
sick  men  healed,  demoniacs  exorcised,  and  the  dead  raised 
to  life,  may,  in  spite  of  his  hardness  and  unbelief,  have  been 
so  disturbed  and  conscience-smitten  as  in  amazement  and 
terror,  to  utter  the  language  attributed  to  him  in  the  Gospels. 
In  Shakespeare's  Macbeth  we  have,  drawn  by  a  master's 
hand,  the  inconsistencies,  absurdities,  and  horrors  which 
mark  the  speech  and  conduct  of  a  man,  betrayed  like  Herod 
into  crimes  which  he  could  never  have  committed  unless  im- 
pelled by  the  overpowering  ambition  of  an  artful,  merciless. 


MATTHEW   XIV.    1  -  12.  263 

unscrupulous  woman.  The  perplexities  which  oppressed 
the  mind  of  Herod,  and  drew  from  him  the  exclamation, 
"  It  is  John  whom  I  beheaded ;  he  has  been  raised  from  the 
dead,  and  by  him  these  mighty  works  are  wrought,"  may 
have  been  not  unlike  those  which  wrenched  from  the  terri- 
fied Macbeth  at  the  appearance  of  Banquo  whom  he  had 
murdered  :  —  the  words,  — 

"  The  times  liave  been, 

That,  when  the  brains  were  out,  the  man  would  die. 

And  there  an  end:  but  now,  they  rise  again. 

With  twenty  mortal  murders  on  their  crowns. 

And  push  us  from  oui-  stools."    . 

The  great  misdeeds  and  consequent  misfortunes  of  Herod's 
life,  his  repudiating  of  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  Aretas, 
king  of  Petraea,  and  his  disastrous  defeat  by  that  monarch, 
his  murder  of  John  the  Baptist,  his  attempt  to  supplant  the 
influence  of  his  wife's  brother  Herod  Agrippa  with  the 
Roman  emperor,  Caligula,  and  to  secure  for  himself  the  title 
of  king,  and  his  consequent  banishment,  first  to  Gaul,  A.  D. 
39,  and  thence  to  Spain  where  he  died,  were  caused  by  the 
instigations  of  the  jealous,  unprincij^led,  ambitious  woman, 
with  whom  he  was  united  by  an  adulterous  and  incestuous 
marriage. 

Herod  is  referred  to  again  on  two  occasions.  The  Phari- 
sees (Luke  xiii.  31,  32)  tell  Jesus  to  depart;  for  Herod  is 
seeking  his  life.  The  reply  of  Jesus,  "  Go  ye  and  tell  that 
fox,"  &c.  shows  how  well  he  understood  his  crafty  charac- 
ter. He  appears  again  in  the  trial  of  Jesus.  He  was 
(Luke  xxiii.  8)  exceedingly  glad  to  see  him,  for  he  had  long 
desired  it  on  account  of  the  reports  which  he  had  heard  of 
him,  and,  besides,  he  now  hoped  to  see  him  perform  some 
miracle.  But  when  Jesus  not  only  refused  to  do  anything 
to  gratify  his  curiosity,  but  would  not  even  reply  to  his 
wordy  questions,  he  gave  way  to  the  natural  and  cruel 
levity  of  his  character,  and,  by  the  most  extravagant  marks 
of  homage,  subjected  him  to  the  heartless  mockery  and  scotfs 


2C4  MATTHEW   XIV.    13-21. 

of  the  soldiers.  The  Herod  who  appears  in  the  thirteenth 
chapter  of  Acts  is  Plerod  Agrippa  I.,  grandson  of  Herod 
the  Great,  and  brother  of  Herodias. 


13-21.  —  Feeding  the  Five  Thousand. 

After  Jesus  knew  that  Herod  was  making  inquiries  con- 
cerning him,  13,  as  connected  with  1  and  2,  he  crossed  over 
the  lake  with  his  disciples  to  an  uninhabited  place,  near  the 
city  of  Bethsaida,  which  was  at  the  northeastern  comer 
of  the  lake,  not  far  from  the  entrance  of  the  Jordan.  They 
sought  rest;  "for  there  were  many  coming  and  going,  and 
they  had  not  leisure  even  to  eat."  (Mark  vi.  31.)  Jesus 
probably  desired  also  to  have  a  season  of  undisturbed  inter- 
course with  his  disciples.  For  this  purpose  he  went  up 
into  a  mountain  with  them.  But  the  people  soon  saw  which 
way  he  had  gone.  They  ran  together  round  the  lake,  and 
some  of  them  reached  the  spot  even  before  Jesus  had  come 
to  the  shore.  He  could  not  therefore  long  be  left  wnth  his 
disciples.  They  were  flocking  towards  him  from  all  the 
neighboring  villages.  And  when,  on  the  mountain  where 
he  was  sitting  with  his  disciples,  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  he 
saw  an  immense  multitude  coming  towards  him.  He  came 
out  to  meet  them,  and,  being  moved  with  compassion  for 
them,  he  healed  their  sick,  and  taught  them  many  things. 
But  seeing  that  in  their  haste  they  had  come  without  their 
customary  supply  of  food,  he  asks  Philip  (John  vi.  5)  how 
they  are  to  be  fed.  Philip  probably  conferred  with  the 
other  disciples,  and  they  advise  Jesus  to  send  the  multitude 
away,  that  they  may  purchase  bread  in  the  neighboring 
fields  and  villages.  "  They  need  not  go  away,"  said  Jesus. 
"  Give  ye  them  to  eat."  "  But  we  have  nothing  here,"  say 
they,  "  except  five  loaves  and  two  small  fishes."  And 
these,  according  to  John  vi.  9,  belonged  to  a  lad  who  was 
wuth  them.  Jesus  directed  the  multitudes  to  be  seated 
on   the   green   grass  of  which  there  was   much  there,  in 


MATTHEW   XIV.    13-21.  2G5 

companies,  by  hundreds  and  fifties.  They  sat  down  as 
it  were  in  garden  plots,  each  company  making  a  square 
by  itself.  Jesus,  having  lifted  up  his  eyes  to  heaven  and 
blessed  the  food,  caused  it  to  be  distributed  among  the 
people,  and  they  all,  five  thousand  men,  besides  women 
and  children,  ate  as  much  as  they  desired,  and  twelve 
baskets  of  fragments  remained. 

In  the  different  accounts  here,  we  have  the  characteris- 
tics of  the  different  Evangelists.  In  Matthew  there  is  the 
plain  statement  of  facts,  with  his  peculiar  exactness  as  to 
numbers,  he  being  the  only  one  who  adds  to  the  5,000, 
"  besides  women  and  children."  Luke's  is  a  clear  his- 
torical account.  He  mentions  the  name  of  the  place,  Beth- 
saida.  There  were  two  cities  of  this  name,  one  on  the  west 
side,  and  the  other  where  they  now  were,  near  the  north- 
eastern corner  of  the  lake.  Mark,  on  the  other  hand, 
throws  in  those  graphic  details,  which  indicate  an  eye- 
witness. "  For  there  were  many  coming  and  going,  and 
they  had  not  leisure  even  to  eat."  He  speaks  of  many 
finding  out  whither  Jesus  had  gone,  and  "running  to- 
gether on  foot,"  so  that  they  reached  the  place  before 
him.  He  speaks  of  the  green  grass,  and  of  the  appear- 
ance—  like  garden  plots  —  of  the  separate  groups,  as  the 
multitude  reclined  at  their  meal.  John's  account  also  has 
the  marks  of  an  eyewitness.  He  alone  speaks  of  Jesus  as 
going  up  into  a  mountain  and  sitting  there  with  his  dis- 
ciples, of  his  lifting  up  his  eyes  and  seeing  the  great 
multitude  coming  towards  him,  of  the  conversation  with 
Philip,  of  the  lad  with  his  five  barley  loaves,  and  two  little 
fishes."  These  graphic  details  and  the  parenthetical  clause 
—  "  now  there  was  much  grass  in  the  place  "  —  are  charac- 
teristic of  one  who  was  personally  present.  22,  23.  After 
the  miracle  Jesus  constrained  his  disciples  to  enter  a  vessel, 
and  go  back  to  the  other  side  before  him.  The  language 
indicates  a  reluctance  to  go  on  their  part.  Probably  they 
had  become  aware  of  the  disposition  in  the  multitude 
23 


2C6  MATTHEW    XIV.    21-34. 

(Joliii  vi.  14,  15)  to  take  him  by  force  and  make  hira  a 
king,  and,  sympathizing  with  the  movement,  were  unwilling 
to  go  away.  For  this  very  reason,  in  order  to  prevent 
their  becoming  implicated  in  any  such  movement,  Jesus 
may  have  obliged  them  to  enter  the  vessel.  Then,  having 
dismissed  the  multitudes,  he  went  up  into  the  mountain 
alone  to  pray.  When  the  night  came  on  he  was  there, 
apart  from  the  confused  excitement  of  the  crowds  and 
their  ambitious  schemes  in  his  behalf,  the  silent  heavens 
bending  over  him,  and  the  mountain  solitudes  around. 
These  retired  seasons  of  meditation  and  prayer  were  pecu- 
liarly grateful  to  him.  "  It  seems  to  me  that  no  one  can 
remember  how  the  Holy  One  found  strength  and  peace 
in  prayer,  and  ever  again  doubt  that  we  need  it.  .  Judas 
did  not  pray.  Herod  did  not  feel  the  need  of  it.  Pilate 
felt  no  need  of  it.  The  worldly  and  the  cruel  did  not 
pray.  But  the  Holy  One,  alone  on  the  mountain,  by  the 
grave  of  Lazarus,  at  his  own  last  hour,  felt  the  need 
of  prayer ;  and  so  long  as  the  record  of  that  example 
remains,  we  have  an  unanswerable  evidence  of  the  neces- 
sity of  prayer."  —  E.  Peabody,  D.  D. 

Jesus  walking  on  the  Water. 

21-34.  While  Jesus  was  alone  on  the  mountain,  in  the 
gray  twilight  of  the  dawn,  as  it  broke  flxintly  into  the  dark- 
ness of  the  night,  Jesus  saw  the  disciples  tossed  about  by 
the  waves,  and  struggling  with  their  oars  to  make  some 
headway  against  the  opposing  wind.  At  about  the  fourth 
watch  of  the  night,  which  extended  from  three  to  six 
o'clock,  he  went  towards  them,  walking  on  the  water. 
As  they  saw  him  approaching,  they  screamed  aloud  with 
fear,  thinking  it  a  spirit,  or  an  apparition.  A  word  from 
him  calmed  their  apprehensions.  Peter  with  the  vehe- 
mence and  the  sudden  revulsion  of  feeling  which  he  showed 
on  other  occasions  more  than  once,  asked  that   he   might 


MATTHEW    XIV.  2G7 

walk  to  him  on  tlie  waters,  and  then,  in  the  violence  of 
the  wind  his  courage  failing  him,  and  he  beginning  to  sink, 
he  cried  to  Jesus  for  help.  When  they  had  come  into  the 
vessel,  the  wind  ceased.  This  miracle  evidently  produced 
on  those  who  were  there  (Mark  vi.  51,  52)  a  stronger  im- 
pression of  amazement  and  wonder,  than  that  which  they  had 
witnessed  the  day  before  with  unmoved  and  hardened  hearts. 
Their  sense  of  personal  danger  from  the  storm,  the  terrors 
'of  the  night  heightened  by  what  they  feared  at  the  time  as 
a  i)hantasm  or  apparition  from  another  world,  had  prepared 
them  to  recognize  with  gratitude  and  wonder  the  power  which 
interposed  to  save  them.  They  immediately  came  to  the 
land  of  Gennesaret,  a  rich  and  beautiful  plain  on  the  west 
side  of  the  lake,  lying  four  or  five  miles  north  from  Tiberias, 
and  probably  a  little  to  the  south  from  Capernaum. 


NOTES. 

At  that  time  Herod  the  tetrarch  heard  of  the  fame  of  Jesus, 

2  and  said  unto  his  servants,  This  is  John  the  Baptist ;   he  is 
risen  from  the  dead,  and  therefore  mighty  works  do  show  forth 

3  themselves  in  him. For  Herod  had  laid  hold  on  John,  and 

bound  him,  and  put  him  in   prison,  for  Herodias'  sake,  his 

4  brother  Philip's  wife.     For  John  said  unto  him,  It  is  not  law- 

5  ful  for  thee  to  have  her.     And  when  he  would  have  put  him  to 
death,  he  feared  the  multitude,  because  they  counted  him  as  a 

6  prophet.     But  when  Herod's  birthday  was  kept,  the  daughter  of 

7  Herodias  danced  before  them,  and  pleased  Herod ;  whereupon 
he  promised  with  an  oath  to  give  her  whatsoever  she  would 

8  a«k.      And  she,  being  before  instructed  of  her  mother,  said, 

9  Give  me  here  John  Baptist's  head  in  a  charger.     And  the  kino- 
was  sorry ;  nevertheless,  for  the  oath's  sake,  and  them  which 

10  sat  with  him  at  meat,  he  commanded  it  to  be  given  her.     And 

11  he  sent  and  beheaded  John  in  the  prison.      And  his  head 

10.  and   beheaded    John    in     likclv  to  be.  con-ect  in  this  mRtter 
prison  ]      Joscphus,    who    is   less     thau'  Matthew,  assigns   a  diflfereut 


268 


MATTHEW   XIV. 


was  brought  in  a  charger,  and  given  to  the  damsel ;  and  she 
brought  it  to  her  mother.     And  his  disciples  came  and  took  up  12 

the  body,  and  buried  it ;  and  went  and  told  Jesus. When  13 

Jesus  heard  of  it,  he  departed  thence  by  ship  into  a  desert  place 


reason  for  the  death  of  John  from 
that  which  is  here  given.  His  ac- 
count of  John  is  as  fohows  (Ant. 
XV'llI.  5.  2)  :  "Now  some  of  the 
Jews  thought  that  the  destruction 
of  Herod's  army  came  from  God  ; 
and  that  very  justly,  as  a  punish- 
ment of  what  he  did  against  John, 
who  was  called  the  Baptist.  For 
Herod  slew  him,  who  Avas  a  good 
man,  and  commanded  the  Jews  to 
exercise  virtue,  both  as  to  righteous- 
ness towards  one  another,  and  piety 
towards  God,  and  so  to  come  1fo 
baptism.  For  that  the  washing 
with  water  would  be  acceptable  to 
him,  if  they  made  use  of  it,  not  in 
order  to  putting  away,  "or  the  re- 
mission of  some  sins  only,  but  for 
the  purification  of  the  body:  sup- 
posing still  that  the  soul  Avas  thor- 
oughly purified  beforehand  by  right- 
eousness. Now  Avhen  many  others 
came  in  crowds  about  him —  for  they 
were  greatly  moved  or  pleased  by 
hearing  his  words  — Herod,  who  fear- 
ed lest  the  great  influence  John  had 
over  the  people  might  put  it  into  his 
power  and  inclination  to  raise  a  re- 
bellion (for  they  seemed  ready  to 
do  anything  he  should  advise), 
thought  it  best,  by  putting  him  to 
death,  to  prevent  any  mischief  he 
might  cause,  and  not  bring  himself 
mto  difficulties  by  sparing  a  man 
who  might  make  him  repent  of  it 
when  it  should  be  too  late.  Ac- 
cordingly he  was  sent  a  prisoner,  out 
of  Herod's  suspicious  temper,  to 
Machaerus,  the  castle  I  before  men- 
tioned, and  Avas  there  put  to  death." 
18.  When  Jesus  heard  of 
it,  he  departed  thence  by  ship 
into  a  desert  place  ]  "  The 
jiPAvs  of  John's  execution,"  says 
Mr.  Norton,  "  probably  produced  a 
sudden  excitement  among  the  peo- 
ple, and  a  feeling  of  strong  resent- 
ment,—  for  'all  belicA'ed  John  to 
be  a  prophet,'  —  and  might  power- 
fully tend    to  turn  their  attention 


on  Jesus,  and  direct  their  hopes  to 
him  as  their  expected  king,  John's 
disciples  came  to  tell  him  of  it,  his 
OAvn  Apostles  collected  about  him, 
and  the  multitude  flocked  to  him. 
From  this  excited  multitude,  eager  • 
to  force  on  him  an  oflSce  so  foreign 
from  that  Avhich  he  Avas  appointed 
to  sustain,  our  Lord  Avas  desirous  of 
AvithdraAving  himself,  till  their  pas- 
sions should  subside,  and  he  should, 
in  consequence,  be  able  with  less 
difficulty  to  repress  their  misdirect- 
ed zeal.  He  probably  Avished  also 
to  AvithdraAV  his  disciples,  who  Avere 
very  likely  to  share  in  the  popular 
ferment.  He  therefore  passed  over 
from  Galilee  to  the  other  side  of  the 
lake,  into  the  dominions  of  Philip, 
a  part  of  the  country  Avhere  he  ap- 
pears to  have  spent  but  little  time 
during  his  ministry.  Here,  hoAv- 
ever,  a  gi-eat  number  of  persons 
soon  collected,  Avhom  he  fed  mirac- 
ulously. The  performance  of  this 
miracle,  with  its  effect  on  the  mul- 
titude, AA'hich  our  Lord  must  have 
foreseen,  may  seem  inconsistent 
with  the  reasons  that  haA-e  just 
been  assigned  for  his  leaAing  Gali- 
lee. But  it  is  to  be  obsei'ved,  that, 
Avliile  he  repressed  those  feelings  or 
the  multitude  which  arose  from 
false  expectations  concerning  the 
Messiah,  it  Avas  necessary  for  him, 
at  the  same  time,  to  give  the  most 
decisive  proofs  of  his  Divine  au- 
thority. As  he  but  seldom  visited 
this  part  of  the  country;  Ave  may 
suppose  that  it  Avas  his  purpose  to 
perform  a  miracle  so  astonishing 
and  so  public  that  it  Avould  r«ake 
a  deep  impression,  and  that  the 
knoAvledge  of  it  Avould  be  spread 
eveiyAvhere  round  about.  Under 
this  aspect  the  miracle  resembles 
that  of  the  cure  of  the  demoniacs, 
related  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  Mat- 
thcAV,  Avhich  Avas  so  remarkable  In 
its  circumstances,  and  Avhich  was 
likewise  performed  on  the  eastern 


MATTHEW    XIV. 


269 


apart ;  and  when  the  people  had  heard  thereof,  they  followed 

him  on  foot  out  of  the  cities. 
14      And  Jesus  went  forth,  and  saw  a  great  multitude  ;  and  was 

moved  with  compassion  toward  them,  and  he  healed  their  sick. 
15 And  whei 


shore  of  the  lake."  In  the  work  of 
eiUicathig  the  disciples  as  Apostles 
and  Evangelists,  while  it  was  im- 
portant tliat  they  should  at  times  be 
sent  out  by  themselves,  and  at  times 
be  brought  into  connection  Avith 
large  and  excited  multitudes  of 
men,  it  v\-as  also  important  that 
they  should  sometimes  be  alone 
with  Jesus  to  receive  his  private 
and  confidential  admonitions  and 
instructions,  as  well  as  to  have  the 
spi.-it  and  habit  of  devotion  estab- 
lished in  them.  We  must  still  re- 
gard them  as  a  peripatetic  school, 
going  abiut  with  their  master,  and 
prei)aring  under  him  for  the  great 
and  responsible  office  which  is  soon 
to  devolve  on   them.  14. 

And  Jesus  went  forth]  He  had 
probably  been  with  his  disciples  in 
some  retired  part  of  the  mountain 
from  which  he  now  came  out.  This 
may  not  have  been  the  same  day  as 
that  on  which  he  crossed  the  lake, 
^h".  Norton  supposes  that  one  or 
more  days  had  intervened.  The 
naiTative"^ in  Mark  vi.  33,  3-i,  at  first 
sight  would  indicate  that  the  multi- 
tudes were  fed  on  the  same  day  that 
Jesus  an-ived  there.  His  account 
is  as  follows  :  "  And  the  people  saw 
them  departing,  and  many  knew 
him,  and  ran  afoot  thither  out  of  all 
cicies,  and  outwent  them  and  came 
together  unto  him.  And  Jesus 
wlien  he  came  out,  saw  much  peo- 
ple." According  to  the  text  in 
fischendorf 's  edition,  we  must 
read  :  "  And  many  saw  them  de- 
parting and  knew  them  ;  and  on 
foot  from  all  the  cities  they  ran 
together  thither,  and  came  before 
them.  And  when  Jesus  came  out," 
&c.  This  may  mean,  that  when 
Jesus  came  out  from  the  boat  he 
saw  the  multitudes,  and  then  fed 
them.  But  considering  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  and  the  rapid, 
sketchy  manner  in  which  the 
23* 


Evangelists  group  events  that  Avere 
separated  in  point  of  time,  it  is 
more  probable  that  Jesus  had  spent 
some  time  there,  perhaps  a  day  or 
more,  healing  and  instructing  them, 
but  seeking  also  for  himself  and  his 
disciples  seasons  of  retirement;  and 
that  once,  when  he  came  out  from 
his  retirement,  and  saw  the  people 
who  had  been  there  so  long,  weary, 
scattered,  and  hungry,  —  like  sheep 
without  a  shepherd,' — his  compas- 
sion for  them  was  excited,  and  he 
fed  them.  There  has  been  a  differ- 
ence of  opinion  in  regard  to  the 
place  where  the  five  thousand  were 
miraculously  fed,  and  which  Jesus 
left  to  walk  upon  the  lake.  We 
think,  however,  there  can  be  no 
longer  any  doubt  that  it  was,  as 
we  have  placed  it,  at  the  northeast 
corner  of  the  lake,  near  Bethsaida, 
afterwards  called  Julias,  Avhere 
Philip,  the  tetrarch,  resided  at  least 
a  portion  of  the  time,  and  where  he 
died  and  was  buried  in  a  costly 
tomb.  (See  Kobinson's  Researches, 
HI.  p.  308.)  John  vi.  23  speaks  of 
other  vessels  coming  that  night  from 
Tiberias  to  the  place  where  they 
had  eaten  bread.  "  The  contrary 
wind,"  says  Stanley  in  his  Geogra- 
phy, p.  3V4,  "  which,  blowing  up 
the  lake  from  the  southAvest,  would 
prevent  the  boat  from  returning 
to  Capernaum,  Avould  also  bring 
'  other  boats '  from  Tiberias,  the 
chief  city  on  the  south,  to  Julias, 
the  chief  city  on  the  noi'th,  and  so 
enable  the  'multitudes,  Avhen  the 
storm  had  subsided,  to  cross  at 
once,  Avithout  the  long  journey  on 
foot  Avhich  they  had  made  '  the 
day  befoi-e."  This  accords  Avith 
the  account  given  by  John  vi.  22  - 
24.  15.  And  when  it 

was  evening]  23.  and 

when  the  evening  was  come] 
From  these  two  verses  it  Avould 
seem  as  if  there  Avere  tAvo  evenings 


270  MATTHEAV    XIV. 

ing,  This  is  a  desert  place,  and  the  time  is  now  past ;  send  the 
multitude  away,  that  they  may  go  into  the  villages,  and  buy 
themselves  victuals.     But  Jesus  said  unto  them,  They  need  ifl 
not  depart ;  give  ye  them  to  eat.     And  they  say  unto  him,  AVe  n 
have  here  but  five  loaves  and  two  fishes.      He  said.  Bring  18 
them  hither  to  me.     And  he  commanded  the  multitude  to  sit  19 
down  on  the  grass,  and  took  the  five  loaves  and  the  two  fishes, 
and,  looking  up  to  heaven ;  he  blessed,  and  brake,  and  gave 
the  loaves  to  his  disciples,  and  the  disciples  to  the  multitude. 
And  they  did  all  eat,  and  were  filled ;  and  they  took  up  of  20 
the  fragments  that  remained  twelve  baskets  full.     And  they  21 
that  had  eaten  were  about  five  thousand  men,  beside  women 
and  children. 

And  straightway  Jesus  constrained  his  disciples  to  get  into  a  22 
ship,  and  to  go  before  him  unto  the  other  side,  while  he  sent 
the  multitudes  away.     And  when  he  had  sent  the  multitudes  23 
away,  he  went  up  into  a  mountain  apart  to  pray.     And  when 
the  evening  was  come,  he  was  there  alone.     But  the  ship  was  24 
now  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  tossed  with  waves ;  for  the  wind 
was  contrary.     And  in  the  fourth  watch  of  the  night,  Jesus  25 
went  unto  them,  walking  on  the  sea.     And  when  the  disciples  26 
saw  him  walking  on  the  sea,  they  were  troubled,  saying.  It  is 
a  spirit ;  and  they  cried  out  for  fear.     But  straightway  Jesus  27 
spake  unto  them  saying,  Be  of  good  cheer,  it  is  I;   be  not 
afraid.      And  Peter  answered  him  and  said,  Lord,  if  it  be  28 
thou,  bid  me  come  unto  thee  on  the  water.     And  he  said, 

that  day.     "  This,"  says  Trencli  on  before  us  ;  but  the  first  seems  to  us 

the  Miracles,  p.  224,  '"'was  an  ordi-  the  most   satisfoctory.     The  words 

naiy  way  of  speaking  among  the  rendered    "  evening  "    or    "  even " 

Jews,  the  first  evening  being  very  (Exod.  xii.  6,  xxx.  8;  Levit.  xxiii.  5) 

much  our  afternoon  (compare  Luke  mean  "between  the  evenings,"    or 

ix.  12,  where  the  evening  of  ]\Iat-  "  between  the  twilights." 

thew  and  Mark  is  described  as  the  20.  twelve    baskets    full]      Not 

day    beginning    to    decline )  ;    the  improbably  these  were  the  baskets 

second  evening  being  the  twilight,  in  which  the  disciples  canned  their 

or  from   six   o'clock   to   twiliglxt."  provisions.     "  The  Jews,"  says  Mr. 

Lightfoot,  on  the  other  hand,  a  great  Norton,  "  seem  to  have  been,  in  some 

auThoritv   in    such    matters,    com-  degree,  distinguished  by  the  use  of 

paring    15    with   23,   says:    "  That  such  baskets."     Juvenal,   Sat.  VI. 

denotes  the    lateness   of  tlie  day;  542,  speaks  of  Jews  at  Rome,  whose 

this,  the  lateness  of  the  niglit.     fc>o,  "  whole   furniture   is   a  basket  and 

'evening'    in  the  Talmudists,  signi-  some  hay."  28.  bid  me 

fies  not  oidy  the  declining  part  of  the  come  unto  thee]     "In  the  ques- 

day,    but    [of]    the    night    also."  tionable  little  word    'me,'    always 

Either  explanation  meets  the  case  questionable  when  it  too  hastily  re- 


MATTHEW    XIV. 


271 


29  Come.     And  when  Peter  was  come  down  out  of  the  ship,  he 

30  walked  on  the  water,  to  go  to  Jesus.  But  when  he  saw  the 
wind  boisterous,  he  was  afraid ;    and  beginning  to  sink,  he 

31  cried,  saying,  Lord,  save  me  !  And  immediately  Jesus 
stretched  forth  his  hand,  and  caught  him,  and  said  unto  him, 

32  O  thou  of  little  faith,  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt  ?     And  when 

33  they  were  come  into  the  ship,  the  wind  ceased.  Then  they 
that  were  in  the  ship  came  and  worshipped  him,  saying.  Of  a 
truth  thou  art  the  Son  of  God. 

34  And  when  they  were  gone  over,  they  came  into  the  land  of 


plies  to  Chrift's  powerful  /,  ere  it 
has  been  specially  asked  and  called, 
lurks  the  secret  flaw  in  tlie  great 
faith,  on  account  of  which  it  must 
soon  again  become  very  little.  Had 
Christ  of  himself  called  out  :  '  And 
thou,  Peter,  come  out  to  me,'  he 
certainly  would  not  have  sunk. 
But,  because  he  will  outi-un  the 
others  in  showing  his  ftiith,  the  real 
Peter  must  show  himself  just  as, 
alas!  he  still  is,  and  give  a  warning 
of  the  future  denial  of  his  Lord  ; 
falling  back  again  as  suddenly  as  he 
had  raised  himself."  Stier. 
29.  And  he  said,  Come]  But 
why  did  he  allow  him  to  come? 
Because  the  presuming  and  pi-e- 
sumptuous  disciple  needed  the  les- 
son, which  he  could  not  learn  from 
any  words  of  Jesus  so  well  as  from 
his  own  precipitate  and  humiliating 
experience.  And  so  it  is  that  God 
deals  with  us  in  his  providence, 
often  allowing  us  to  adventure  on 
our  own  rash  and  foolish  schemes, 
because  only  by  failure  and  disaster, 
through  our  own  humiliating  ex- 
perience and  exposure,  can  we 
come  to  ourselves,  and  learn  the 
ti-ue  and  humble  gauge  of  our  own 
powers.  This  is  a  great  thing  in 
the  training  of  children  and  the  edu- 
cation of  the  young,  as  well  as  in 
the  discipline  of  matiirer  life.  Not 
that  system  which  is  for  the  present 
the  safest  for  the  child  is  most  to  be 
desired,  but  that  which  will  best 
call  out  all  his  powers,  and  by  his 
own  experience  teach  him  the  truest 
measure  of  himself.  In  this  way 
only  will  he  attain  a  true  Christian 


modest}',  which  is  always  connected 
with  a  nice  adjustment  of  a  man's 
consciousness  to  all  his  faculties,  so 
that  he  will  not  presume  on  what 
lies  wholly  beyond  him,  nor  shrink 
from  whal  lies  within  his  compass. 
The  fitting  measure  of  our  faith  in 
ourselves,  and,  as  Mith  Peter,  of 
our  faith  in  God,  can  be  gained 
only  in  this  way  by  exposures 
which  sometimes  end  in  defeat  and 
humiliation.  30.  to  sink] 

KaTaTrovTi^eadm,  a  stronger  word 
than  to  sink,  —  beginning  to  be 
buritd  in  the  sea.  .31.  And 

Jesus  stretched  forth  his  hand, 
and  caught  him]  The  calmness 
of  Jesus,  and  the  ease  and  natural- 
ness of  the  movement  by  which  the 
affrighted  disciple  was  rescued,  are 
worthy  of  notice.  There  is  nowhere 
in  our  Saviour's  life  any  indication 
of  surprise.  He  is  never,  even  for 
a  moment,  thrown  off"  his  guard. 
He  does  not  seek  an  occasion  for 
the  exercise  of  his  wonderful  gifts, 
but  accepts  them  when  they  come. 
One  woman,  of  a  despised  race,  at 
the  Avell  of  Jacob  in  Samaria  (John 
iv.  1-43),  called  forth  a  discourse 
full  of  his  richest  and  sublimest  in- 
structions; and  here,  the  violence 
of  the  storm  and  the  terror  of  his 
disciples,  excite  him  to  no  un- 
usual effort.  "  He  reached  out 
his  hand,  and  laid  hold  of  him, 
and  said  unto  him,  '  0,  thou  of 
little  faith,  wherefore  didst  thou 
doubt?  '  "  32.  and  wor- 

shipped him]  did  homage  to 
him,  saying,  "  Truly  thou  art 
God's    Son.' 


272  MATTHEW   XIV. 

Gennesaret.     And  when  the  men  of  that  place  had  knowledo-e  35 
of  him,  they  sent  out  into  all  that  country  round  about ;  and 
brought  unto  him  all  that  were  diseased,  and  besought  him  that  36 
they  might  only  touch  the  hem  of  his  garment ;  and  as  many 
as  touched  were  made  perfectly  whole. 


MATTHEW   XV.    1-20.  273 


CHAPTER    XY. 

1-20.  —  Jesus  and  the  Jewish  Traditions. 

1-G.  The  Scribes  and  Moses.  The  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  who  had  come  down  from  Jerusalem  in  order  to 
find  some  serious  charge  against  Jesus,  ask  him  why  it  is 
that  liis  disciples  transgress  the  traditions  of  the  elders  as 
they  do  by  eating  with  unwashed  hands.  Jesus  replies  to 
them  in  language  of  great  severity,  "  Why  do  ye  transgress 
the  commandment  of  God  by  your  tradition  "i  For  God 
hath  commanded,  (Ex.  xx.  12,)  saying,  Honor  thy  father 
and  thy  mother;  and  (Ex.  xxi.  17)  He  that  curseth  father 
or  mother  shall  be  put  to  death.  But  ye  teach.  If  a  man 
say  to  his  father  or  mother.  Whatever  I  have  which  might 
benefit  you  is  a  gift  to  God,  [and  cannot  therefore  be  used 
for  your  benefit],  he  shall  not  honor  his  father  or  mother, 
i.  e.  he  shall  even  be  exempt  from  the  obligation  to  honor 
and  provide  for  them.  And  ye  thus  annul  or  render  of  none 
effect  the  commandment  of  God  by  your  tradition." 

Lightfoot  has  shown  that  the  Jewish  Talmudists  attached 
greater  weight  to  the  Rabbinical  traditions  than  to  the  law. 
"The  words  of  the  scribes,'*  say  they,  "are  lovely,  above 
the  words  of  the  law ;  for  the  words  of  the  law  are  weighty 
and  light ;  but  the  words  of  the  scribes  are  all  weighty." 
Alford  says,  "The  Jews  attached  more  importance  to  the 
traditionary  exposition  than  to  the  Scripture  text  itself. 
They  compared  the  written  word  to  water ;  the  traditionary 
exposition  to  the  wine  which  must  be  mingled  with  it.  The 
duty  of  washing  before  meat  is  not  inculcated  in  the  law, 
but  only  in  the  traditions  of  the  Scribes.  So  rigidly  did 
the  Jews  observe  it,  that  Rabba  Akiba,  being  imprisoned, 
and  having  water  scarcely  sufficient  to  sustain  life  given 


274  MATTHEW    XV.    7,   8. 

him,    preferred  dying  of  thirst  to  eating  without  washing 
his  hands." 

It  is  customary  among  the  Jews  to  cut  themselves  off 
from  the  obligation  of  certain  acts  by  consecrating  their 
property  to  God  as  a  gift  so  far  as  those  specific  acts  were 
concerned.  Their  property  might  be  used  for  anything  else, 
but  not  for  those  particular  acts.  For  example,  if  a  man 
wished  to  free  himself  from  the  obligation  to  support  his 
parents,  he  might  set  aside  his  whole  property  as  a  gift  to 
God,  so  far  as  any  advantage  might  accrue  to  them  from  it, 
and,  according  to  the  traditions  of  the  elders,  he  would  then 
have  no  right  to  use  any  part  of  it  for  the  benefit  of  his 
parents,  though  he  might  use  it  for  any  other  purpose. 
Thus  they  set  at  naught  the  law  of  God  by  their  quibbling 
traditions,  and  justified  by  their  traditions  those  who  did 
not  honor  their  father  or  their  mother. 


Jesus  has  confronted  the  Scribes  by  the  authority  of 
Moses,  their  great  lawgiver.  He  here  shows  how  the 
condemnation  of  one  of  their  prophets  falls  on  them :  "  Well 
did  Isaiah  prophesy  of  you,  when  he  said.  This  people 
honor  me  with  their  lips,  but  their  hearts  are  far  from 
me.  But  in  vain  do  they  worship  me  teaching  for  doc- 
lirine  the  commandments  of  men."  Dr.  Noyes's  translation 
of  this  passage  (Isa.  xxix.  13,  14)  is  as  follows;  — 

"Since  this  people  draAveth  near  to  me  with  their  mouth, 
And  honoreth  me  with  their  hps, 
While  their  heart  is  far  from  me, 

And  their  Avorship  of  me  is  according  to  the  commandments  of  men, 
Therefore,  behold,  I  Avill  pi-oceed  to  deal  marvellously  with  this  people; 
]\Iarvel]ously  and  wonderfully. 
For  the  Avisdom  of  their  AA'ise  men  shall  perish, 
And  the  prudence  of  the  prudent  shall  be  hid." 

These  words  were  undoubtedly  applied  by  the  prophet 
to   the  men  of  his  own  day ;  and  we  have  no  reason  to 


MATTHEW   XV.    7,   8.  275 

suppose  that  he  had  in  his  mind  the  thought  of  any 
further  application.  How  then  could  Jesus  say,  ""Well 
did  Isaiah  prophesy  concerning  you  when  he  said,  This 
people,"  &c.  They  not  only  contain  a  direct  message  to 
the  Jews,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Isaiah  ;  but  that  message 
is  so  put  as  to  contain  in  itself  a  general  truth  which 
is  prophetic  of  the  condition  of  all  men,  whenever  and 
wherever  they  may  live,  who  seek  to  propitiate  the  favor 
of  God  by  their  distant,  outside,  hypocritical  worship. 
See  above,  xiii.  14. 

But  does  not  this  involve  a  double  sense  ?  Is  it  right 
to  use  the  authority  of  the  prophet  in  applying  his  words 
to  persons  whom  he  could  not  have  had  in  his  mind  at 
the  time  he  spoke  ?  This  is  what  Jesus  has  done  in  the 
passage  before  us.  And,  notwithstanding  the  dread  many 
persons  have  of  attributing  a  double  or  rather  a  twofold 
meaning  of  this  kind  to  the  language  of  Scripture,  it  is  what 
is  constantly  done  with  other  language.  Every  expression 
which,  originally  spoken  solely  with  reference  to  a  spe- 
cific case,  is  so  put  as  to  involve  a  general  truth,  may 
be  used  in  this  way.  If  the  Scriptures  more  than  all 
other  writings  have  been  so  applied,  it  is  only  because, 
under  the  simplest  forms  of  speech,  and  often  with  direct 
reference  to  specific  cases,  they  more  than  all  other  writings 
express  the  most  profound  and  universal  truth. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  may  give  a 
decision  which  is  of  little  consequence  in  its  application 
to  the  case  immediately  in  hand.  And  that  case  is  the 
only  one  which  is  before  the  Court,  and  to  which  they 
specifically  apply  their  decision.  But  that  decision  may 
involve  considerations  of  momentous  importance  in  cases 
to  which  the  principles  there  established  by  the  authority 
of  the  highest  judicial  tribunal  of  the  land  may  hereafter 
be  applied.  The  language  which  is  at  first  applied  spe- 
cifically only  to  a  single  case,  nevertheless  embraces  with- 
in   its    scope   and   within    the   intention   of  the    Court,  all 


276  MATTHEW   XV.    7,   8. 

cases  of  the  same  character  that  may  arise  afterwards. 
What  is  said  of  one  is  said  of  all,  —  that  one  case  is  a  type 
of  all  the  rest,  and  the  authority  which  decides  it  appHes 
with  equal  force  to  all  the  rest.  So  in  the  decisions  of 
the  great  Judge  of  all,  as  announced  by  his  prophets, 
the  principles  involved  in  the  case  to  which  they  are  spe- 
citically  applied  and  the  consequences  flowing  from  those 
principles,  reach  on  with  the  weight  of  their  divine  au- 
tliority,  and  find  their  fulfilment  in  every  analogous  case 
tliat  may  afterwards  arise.  Whatever  may  be  said  of 
the  doctrine  of  types,  and  the  absurd  extent  to  which 
it  has  been  carried,  or  of  the  interpretation  sometimes 
put  on  the  prediction  of  specific  events,  many  of  the  an- 
cient prophecies  stand  forth  as  types  or  outshadowings 
and  foreshadowings  of  divine  truths,  which  shall  be  per- 
petually fulfilling  themselves  in  the  experience  of  all  times. 
The  passage  quoted  here  from  Isaiah  is  one  of  this  kind. 
The  predicted  destruction  of  Sodom  and  Gomon-ah,  imme- 
diately fulfilled  in  the  fatal  retribution  which  fell  on  those 
wicked  cities,  became,  through  that  fulfilment,  a  type  or 
sign  of  the  retribution  which  is  in  store  for  every  corrupt 
and  ungodly  people.  The  principle  of  retributive  justice, 
which  is  involved  and  announced  in  that  case,  holds  true 
always,  and  applies  with  more  or  less  force  to  every  new 
case  that  may  arise. 

Of  this  character  are  the  instructions  here  given  to  the 
Pharisees.  The  question  immediately  at  issue  between 
them  and  Jesus  relates  to  a  matter  which  is  in  itself  of 
no  sort  of  interest  or  importance  now.  But  this  specific 
case  of  washing  before  meat  is  made  to  stand  out  as  the 
type  or  representative  of  all  similar  cases,  and  brings  out 
the  great  essential  principles  in  such  a  way  as  to  elucidate 
the  whole  subject  of  a  spiritual  or  formal  worship,  and 
to  furnish  instruction  in  this  matter  for  all  times.  Where 
a  sincere  and  vital  religion  is  dying  out,  there  is  always 
a  disposition,  with  a  numerous  class  of  men,  to  seek  refuge 


MATTHEW    XV.    11-15.  277 

in  forms,  and  to  put  their  consciences  to  sleep  by  multiply- 
ing religious  forms  at  the  expense  of  the  essential  principles 
of  devout  and  holy  living.  This  fatal  tendency,  belonging 
alike  to  unenlightened  and  to  the  most  luxurious  times, 
making  void  the  law  of  God  by  human  traditions  and 
observances,  is  here  exposed  and  condemned.  The  heart 
as  the  centre  of  the  life  is  the  one  thing  to  be  kept  pure. 
The  thoughts  which  proceed  from  that,  and  not  the  neglect 
of  outside  forms,  are  what  defile  the  man.  Mr.  Norton 
has  quoted  from  Philo  Judseus  a  passage  very  similar  to 
this.  "  Through  the  mouth,  as  Plato  says,  mortal  things 
enter,  and  imperishable  things  pass  out.  For  food  and 
drink  enter  it,  perishable  nutriment  of  the  perishable  body  ; 
but  words  proceed  from  it,  immortal  laws  of  the  immortal 
soul,  by  which  the  rational  life  is  governed."  —  Philo,  De 
Mundi  Opificio,  0pp.  I.  29. 

The  fact  that  so  plain  a  statement  as  that  of  Jesus,  11, 
should  appear  to  the  disciples,  15,  a  parable  or  dark  say- 
ing which  needed  explanation,  shows  how  dull  their  spirit- 
ual perceptions  were  at  that  time,  and  how  slow  they  were 
to  free  themselves  from  the  superstitious  formalities  of  the 
Jews.  The  same  attitude  of  mind  towards  Jewish  teachers 
and  observances  is  indicated  by  the  vehemence  with  which 
they  put  the  question,  12,  "  Dost  thou  know  how  the  Phari- 
sees were  offended  by  thy  words  ?  "  His  reply  is,  "  Every 
plant  which  my  Father  hath  not  planted  shall  be  rooted 
up."  As  if  he  had  said.  The  Pharisees  are  here  the  rec- 
ognized and  authoritative  teachers  of  the  law.  Still,  if 
they  teach  anything  not  in  accordance  with  the  truth, 
anything  which  my  Father  doth  not  approve  and  sustain, 
it  cannot  stand,  but  will  be  rooted  up  as  a  plant  which 
he  hath  not  planted.  Give  them  up  as  your  guides.  They 
are  only  blind  leaders  of  the  blind ;  and  no  good,  but  mis- 
chief only,  can  come  of  their  instructions.  Here,  15,  Peter 
asks  an  explanation  of  the  parable,  11.  It  was  not  a 
parable  in  one  sense  of  the  word ;  but  the  disciples  could 
24 


278  MATTHEW    XV.    21-28. 

not  understand  it.  With  an  expression  of  sorrowful  sur- 
prise that  they  even  yet  should  be  unable  to  understand 
words  so  simple,  he  explains  his  meaning  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  do  away  forever,  one  would  think,  at  least  among 
his  followers,  all  superstitious  regard  for  merely  external 
observances  in  matters  of  religion. 

The  Syro-Ph(enician  Woman. 

21-28.  In  order  to  escape  from  the  crowds,  with  the 
tumults  and  controversies  connected  with  them,  as  well 
as  to  prevent  any  premature  and  mistaken  movement  in 
his  behalf,  he  retired  from  the  lake  of  Galilee  towards 
the  northwest,  to  the  vicinity  of  Tyre  and  Sidon.  It  is 
a  question  among  commentators  whether  he  actually  entered 
their  territory  or  remained  still  within  the  limits  of  Gali- 
lee. He  sought  retirement.  "  He  went  (Mark  vii.  24,  25) 
into  a  house,  and  would  have  no  man  know  it ;  but  he 
could  not  be  hid ;  for  a  woman,  whose  daughter  had  an 
unclean  spirit  heard  of  him,"  and  came  crying  after  him. 
The  desire  to  escape  observation  will  account  for  the  anx- 
iety of  the  disciples  to  stop  her  cries.  For  in  calling 
after  them  she  must  necessarily  attract  attention.  She 
was  a  Grecian  by  descent,  a  Syro-Phoenician  by  birth, 
and  from  her  birthplace  called,  as  she  is  here,  a  woman 
of  Canaan.  At  first  Jesus  paid  no  regard  to  her.  His 
object  probably  was  to  call  out  and  strengthen  her  faith, 
by  subjecting  it  to  trial.  This  is  in  accordance  with  the 
whole  discipline  of  life.  He  therefore,  said  within  her 
hearing,  "I  am  sent  only,"  i.  e.  his  personal  ministry 
was  confined,  "  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel.'* 
But  instead  of  being  discouraged,  she  threw  herself  at 
his  feet,  and  with  affecting  earnestness  entreated  him  to 
assist  her.  He  replied  to  her,  "  It  is  not  right  to  take 
the  children's  bread  and  throw  it  to  the  little  dogs." 
"Yes,  Lord,"  she   exclaimed,   "it  is;   for  even  the  little 


MATTHEW   XV.    32-38.  279 

dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs  which  fall  from  their  master's 
table."  The  humble,  trusting  character  of  this  speech 
showed  that  nothing  more  was  needed  for  her.  "  O  woman, 
great  is  thy  faith.  Be  it  to  thee  as  thou  wishest."  And 
her  daughter  was  healed  from  that  hour.  What  was  this 
faith  ?  Not  knowledge ;  she  had  not  that.  Not  a  belief 
in  certain  theological  doctrines.  It  is  certain  that  she 
knew  nothing  of  them.  Her  faith  consisted  in  a  readi- 
ness to  believe,  —  an  humble,  trusting  attitude  of  mind  and 
heart,  —  "  the  tenderest  susceptibility  for  what  is  heavenly." 
As  to  the  apparent  severity  of  Jesus  towards  her,  "■  It  is," 
as  Olshausen  has  said,  "  Christian  experience  alone  which 

opens  our  way  to  the  right  understanding  of  this 

The  restraining  of  his  grace,  the  manifestation  of  a  treat- 
ment wholly  different  from  what  the  woman  may  at  first 
have  expected,  acted  as  a  check  usually  does  on  power 
when  it  really  exists,  the  whole  inherent  energy  of  her 
living  faith  broke  forth,  and  the  Saviour  suffered  him- 
self to  be  overcome  by  her Where  faith  is  weak, 

he  anticipates  and  comes  to  meet  it ;  where  faith  is  strong, 
he  holds  himself  far  off  in  order  that  it  may  in  itself  be 
carried  to  perfection." 

Feeding  the  Four  Thousand. 

32-38.  It  has  been  supposed  by  some  modern  writers, 
as  Schleiermacher,  Neander,  &c.,  that  this  account  and 
that  in  xiv.  14  —  21,  are  but  different  accounts  of  the  same 
transaction.  The  circumstances,  it  is  said,  the  place,  the 
multitude,  the  compassion  of  Jesus,  the  perplexity  of  the 
disciples  as  to  what  should  be  done,  the  sort  of  food  at 
hand,  are  substantially  the  same  in  the  two  accounts.  But 
these  would  be  likely  to  be  substantially  the  same  if  the 
miracle  liad  been  repeated  anywhere  in  that  vicinity.  Th-e 
only  exception  to  what  we  should  look  for  is  in  the  perplex- 
ity of  the  disciples.     How  could  they,  after  witnessing  the 


280  MATTHEW   XV.    32-38. 

first  miracle,  be  so  mucli  at  a  loss  here  ?  The  reply  is, 
that,  though  they  had  seen  Jesus  perform  many  miracles, 
they,  had  never,  except  in  a  single  instance,  known  him 
to  use  his  miraculous  power  for  such  a  purpose  as  that. 
Why,  then,  should  they  expect  it  now  ?  Some  of  the  cir- 
cumstances are  alike  in  the  two  cases,  but  others  again 
are  different.  In  the  first,  there  were  5,000  persons  ;  in  the 
second  only  4,000.  In  the  first,  there  were  five  loaves  and 
two  fishes  ;  in  the  second,  seven  loaves  and  a  few  fishes. 
In  the  first,  it  is  not  said  how  long  the  multitudes  were 
with  Jesus ;  in  the  second  they  were  with  him  three  days. 
In  the  first,  specific  mention  is  made  of  a  storm  on  the  lake 
and  of  Jesus  walking  on  the  w^ater ;  in  the  second  he  is 
represented  as  crossing  the  lake  in  a  vessel  without  any 
such  occurrence.  In  so  concise  an  account  of  two  similar 
events  we  should  hardly  expect  a  greater  variety  in  the 
details,  which  certainly  point  to  two  distinct  transactions. 
Besides  (xvi.  9,  10)  Jesus  explicitly  refers  to  the  two 
miracles.  It  may  also  be  added,  that  in  the  first  account 
the  word  translated  baskets  is  ko^i'i/ou?,  wdiile  here  it  is 
anvpidas,  a  long  basket,  which  travellers  sometimes  used 
as  a  bed  when  they  pass  the  night  in  the  open  air, 
and  the  same  as  that  in  which  Saul  was  let  down  from 
tlie  wall  (Acts  ix.  25).  The  same  distinction  is  observed 
in  our  Saviour's  reference  to  the  two  miracles,  and  in  all 
these  cases  the  distinction  is  found  in  the  Curetonian 
Syriac  Gospels.  In  the  repetition  of  the  miracle,  there 
is  nothing  improbable.  When  we  consider  what  multi- 
tudes thronged  around  the  steps  of  Jesus,  and  that  the 
east  side  of  the  lake  was  a  desert  place,  at  a  distance 
from  villages  where  food  could  be  procured  for  such  a 
concourse  of  people,  we  can  hardly  think  it  strange,  if 
more  than  once  towards  the  close  of  the  day,  he  should 
have  had  compassion  on  the  Aveary  multitudes,  and  fed 
them  by  his  miraculous  power  lest  they  should  hunger 
and  faint  by  the  way. 


MATTHEW    XV.  281 

39.  Having  dismissed  the  multitude,  Jesus  went  into 
a  vessel  and  passed  to  the  vicinity  of  Magdala,  or,  as  the 
best  copies  have  it,  Magadan.  Magdala  is  near  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  plain  of  Genesareth.  For  an  interesting 
and  graphic  description  of  this  fertile  and  populous  region, 
see  Stanley's  Sinai  and  Palestine,  pp.  366-375.  After 
his  account  of  what  that  country  once  was,  he  says,  "Of 
all  the  numerous  towns  and  villages  in  what  must  have 
been  the  most  thickly  peopled  district  of  Palestine,  one 
only  remains.  A  collection  of  a  few  hovels  stands  at 
the  southeastern  corner  of  the  plain,  —  its  name  hardly 
altered  from  the  ancient  Magdala  or  Migdol,  —  so  called, 
probably,  from  a  watch-tower,  of  which  ruins  appear  to 
remain,  that  guarded  the  entrance  of  the  plain ;  deriving 
its  whole  celebrity  from  its  being  the  birthplace  of  her, 
through  whom  the  name  of  '  Magdalen '  has  been  in- 
corporated into  the  languages  of  the  world.  A  large  soli- 
tary thorn-tree  stands  beside  it.  Its  situation,  otherwise 
unmarked,  is  dignified  by  the  high  limestone  rock  which 
overhangs  it  on  the  southwest,  perforated  with  caves,  re- 
calling, by  a  curious,  though  doubtless  unintentional  coin- 
cidence, the  scene  of  Correggio's  celebrated  picture." 


NOTES. 

Then  came  to  Jesus  scribes  and  Pharisees,  which  were  of 

2  Jerusalem,  saying,  Why  do  thy  disciples  transgress  the  tra- 
dition of  the  elders  ?  for  they  wash  not  their  hands,  when  they 

3  eat  bread.     But  he  answered  and  said  unto  them.  Why  do  ye 


1.  Avhich  were  of  Jerusalem]  encv  he  has  now  gained.  2. 

The  fact  that  Scribes  and  Pharisees  for' they  wash  not  their  hands 

had  come  from  Jerusalem  to  Avatch  Avheii  they  eat  bread]     Not  that 

and  oppose  Jesus,  shows  incident-  they  did  not  liave  dean  hands,  but 

ally   Avhat   an   impression    he    had  that  they  did   not  wash   them.     It 

been  making,  and  what  an  ascend-  was  a  siiperstitious  duty  to  wash 
24* 


282 


MATTHEW    XV. 


also  transgress  the  commandment  of  God,  by  your  tradition  ? 
For  God  commanded,  saying,  "  Honor  thy  father  and  moth- 
er ; "  and,  "  He  that  curseth  father  or  mother,  let  him  die  the 
death."  But  ye  say,  "  Whosoever  shall  say  to  his  father  or  his 
mother.  It  is  a  gift,  by  whatsoever  thou  mightest  be  profited  by 
me ;  and  honor  not  his  father  or  his  mother,  he  shall  be  free. 
Thus  have  ye  made  the  commandment  of  God  of  none  effect 
by  your  tradition.     Ye  hypocrites !  well  did  Esaias  prophesy 


their  hands  before  eating  bread, 
whetlier  they  were  clean  or  not,  — 
particular!}-  before    eating    bread. 

3.  Observe  the  solemn 
contrast  between  the  command- 
ment of  God,  and  the  tradition  of 
men,  even  though  the  tradition 
was  held  to  by  the  elders  and 
teachers.  4.  Honor  thy 

father  and  mother]  The  stress 
which  Jesus  lays  on  this  great  com- 
mandment is  remarkable.  Its  ob- 
servance is  to  an  extraordinary  ex- 
tent a  criterion  of  the  morals  of  a 
people.  There  is  a  saying  among 
the  Chinese,  "  If  a  man  sliow  rev- 
erence for  his  father  and  mother  in 
his  house,  why  go  farther  to  burn 
spices?  "  There  is  a  place  holy 
enough  for  sacrifice  and  woi'ship. 
Where  there  is  this  reverence  for 
parents,  the  simplicity  of  the  char- 
acter and  the  freshness  of  the  heart 
are  preserved.  He  who  honors  his 
father  and  mother  will  honor  God. 

6.  he  shall  be  free] 
These  words,  inserted  by  our  trans- 
lators, do  not  belong  here.  The 
second  clause  of  the  sentence  is  the 
apofhsh  to  the  first,  which  begins  in 
verse  5  :  "  Whosoever  shall  say  to 
his  father  or  mother,  '  Anything  I 
have  which  might  be  used  for  your 
benefit  is,  so  fiir  as  you  are  con- 
cerned, set  aside  as  a  consecrated 
gift  [and  therefore  not  to  be  em- 
ployed for  you],'  he  shall  not  honor 
his'  father  'or  his  mother."  Thus 
setting  aside  all  his  property,  so  ftir 
as  relates  to  his  parents,' "he  has 
freed  himself  from  all  obligation  to 
provide  for  them  ;  and,  therefore, 
rightly,  so  the  Scribes  taught,  he 
shall  not  be  obliged  to  honor  them. 
"  Whosoever  shall  say  to  his  father 
or  mother,  *  Let  it  be  a   [devoted] 


gift  in  whatsoever  thou  mightest  be 
helped  by  me ' ;  then  let  him  not 
honor  his  father  and  mother  at  all." 
Lightfoot.  7.  Ye  hypo- 

crites] This  is  the  first  time  that 
Jesus  directly  addresses  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees  by  this  term.  Hith- 
erto he  has  rather  reproved  them 
by  holding  up  the  principles  of 
righteousness  which  opposed  and 
overthrew  all  their  superstitious 
conventionalisms.  But  now,  Avhen 
they  put  to  him  a  question  which 
directly  involves  the  principles  that 
separate  him  and  them,  he  at  first 
states  strongly  the  inconsistency 
between  their  tradition  and  the 
commandments  of  God,  and  then 
directly  charges  them  with  the  one 
crime  which  vitiated  all  their  relig- 
ion, and  Avhich  from  that  day  to 
this  has  been  the  characteristic  of 
their  successors.  When  men  sep- 
arate the  forms  of  religion  from  its 
substance,  and  substitute  man's  tra- 
ditions for  the  commandments  of 
God,  however  specious  the  pre- 
tence, and  however  artfully  dis- 
guised the  processes  by  which  their 
purpose  is  to  be  accomplished,  they 
are  led  by  a  superstitious  spirit 
through  dishonest  methods  into 
hypocrisy,  —  that  hideous  crime 
against  man  and  God,  on  Avhich 
the  heaviest  denunciations  of  our 
Saviour  fell.  Every  step  away  from 
the  simplicity  of  the  truth,  as  it 
stands  revealed  to  us  by  God  in 
Christ,  is  a  step  in  this  direction. 
It  gives  to  human  explanations, 
glosses,  institutions  the  authority 
which  belongs  only  to  the  com- 
mandments of  God.'  It  substitutes 
human  formulas  of  faith,  and  forms 
of  worship,  with  the  idle  ceremonies 
growing  out  of  them,  for  the  wor- 


MATTHEW   XV.  283 

8  of  you,  saying,  "  This  people  drawetli  nigh  unto  me  with  their 
mouth,  and  honoreth  me  with  their  Hps  ;  but  their  heart  is  far 

9  from  me.     But  in  vain  do  they  worship  me,  teaching  for  doc- 

10  trines  the  commandments  of  men." And  he  called  the  mul- 

11  titude,  and  said  unto  them,  Hear,  and  understand.  Not  that 
which  goeth  into  the  mouth  defileth  a  man ;  but  that  which 

1-2  Cometh  out  of  the  mouth,  this  defileth  a  man. Then  came 

his  disciples,  and  said  unto  him,  Knowest  thou  that  the  Phari- 

13  sees  were  offended,  after  they  heard  this  saying  ?  But  he  an- 
swered and  said,  Every  plant  which  my  heavenly  Father  hath 

14  not  planted,  shall  be  rooted  up.  Let  them  alone ;  they  be  blind 
leaders  of  the  blind.    And  if  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  both  shall 

15  fall  into  the  ditch.     Then  answered  Peter,  and  said  unto  him, 

16  Declare  unto  us  this  parable.     And  Jesus  said :  Are  ye  also  yet 

17  without  understanding  ?  Do  not  ye  yet  understand  that  what- 
soever entereth  in  at  the  mouth  goeth  into  the  belly,  and  is  cast 

13  out  into  the  draught  ?  But  those  things  which  proceed  out  of 
the  mouth  come  forth  from  the  heart,  and  they  defile  the  man. 

19  For  out  of  the  heart  proceed  evil  thoughts ;  murders,  adulte- 

20  ries,  fornications,  thefts,  false  witness,  blasphemies.  These  are 
the  things  which  defile  a  man  ;  but  to  eat  with  unwashen  hands 
defileth  not  a  man. 

21  Then  Jesus  went  thence,  and  departed  into  the  coasts  of 

ship  and  the  movahty  which  Jesus  the  strong  man,  hardened  into  hy- 

has   taught,  and   thiis   renders   the  pocrisy,  knows   how   to  avail  him- 

hiw  of  God  of  none  effect  through  self  of  the  timid  consciences  of  the 

its    superstitious    and    hypocritical  weak,  and  how  to  turn  to  his  own 

traditions.      So   tiiie  in   regard    to  ends  the  pliant,  tinisting  foith  of  the 

them  is  the  language  of  Isaiali,  that  unsuspecting.                     13.  Every 

their  lieart  is   alienated   from  God,  plant]     Not  that  which  has  grown 

and   their  moral  and  spiritual  per-  naturally,  but  that  which  is  planted 

ceptions  blunted.     If  the  pure  and  and    fostered    by  man,  —  the    com- 

devout,  who  are  led  away  by  these  mandments  of  men^  which  are  taught 

subtle  processes  from  the  simplicity  for  doctrines.                           16.  yet 

of  the  Gospel,  could  only  give  up  Avithout  understanding]    What, 

the  human  hindrances  which  offer  still  not  able  to  understand  so  simple 

themselves   to   them  as   helps,  and  a  truth, — ye  who  have  been  Avith 

sit  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  to  learn  of  me    so    loiig?      This     conversation 

him,  and  thus  receive  their  religion  with  the  disciples  (12 -20)  was  after 

directly  from  him,  rather  tlian  from  he  had  entered  into  the  house  (]\Iark 

the  perverse   and   impure  channels  vii.  17),  and  when  he  was  probably 

through  which   it  comes   to  them,  Avith  them  alone.                20.  which 

how  would  the  face  of  the  world  be  defile  the  man]      "  In  the  very 

changed !     But  there  is  always  this  appellation  of  ma7i   is  contahied  an 

tendency  and  weakness  in  our  hu-  argument:  for  the  spiritual  nature, 

man  nature;  this  clinging  to  helps  which  is  the  superior  part  in  man, 

beyond  what  God  has  givgn;  and  is  not  reached  by  outward   filth." 


284 


MATTHEW    XV. 


Tyre  and  Sidon.     And,  behold,  a  woman  of  Canaan  came  out  22 
of  the  same  coasts,  and  cried  unto  him,  saying,  Have  mercy  on 
me,  O  Lord,  thou  son  of  David ;   my  daughter  is  grievously 
vexed  with  a  devil.     But  he  answered  her  not  a  word.     And  23 
his  disciples  came  and  besought  him,  saying.  Send  her  away, 
for  she  crieth  after  us.     But  he  answered  and  said,  I  am  not  24 
sent  but  unto  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel.      Then  25 


r.eiic^el.  23.  Send  her 

away]  The  disciples  probably 
meant  to  ask  of  Jesus  that  he 
should  grant  her  request,  heal  her 
child,  and  let  her  go.  for  she 

crieth  after  us]  They  wished  to 
escape  the  attention  and  notoriety 
which  her  cries  were  likely  to  at- 
tract. "  We  may  suppose,"  says 
Bengel,  "  that  the  disciples  feared 
the  judgment  of  men,  and  made 
their  petition  to  our  Lord,  both  for 
their  own  sake,  lest  her  crying 
should  produce  annoyance,  and  for 
the  sake  of  the  woman  herself." 
24.  I  am  not  sent 
but  unto  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
house  of  Israel]  '^  Afltr  those 
Jiocks  loklch  have  strayed  away  froni^'"' 
&c.,  seeking  the  scattered  Israelites 
in  the  regions  of  Tyre  and  Sidon, 
Jesus  confined  his  personal  ministry 
almost  entirely  to  the  Jews,  In  his 
directions  to  the  Apostles  he  com- 
manded them  (Matt.  X.  5)  not  to  go 
into  the  way  of  the  Gentiles,  or  into 
any  city  of  the  Samaritans.  Xot,  as 
some  have  supposed,  that  his  per- 
sonal sympatiiies  were  bound  in  by 
Jewish"  prejudices.  His  conversa- 
tion with  the  woman  of  Samaria, 
and  his  remaining  at  Sychar  two 
days,  show  the  kindness  of  his  feel- 
ing towards  them,  and  his  readiness 
to  do  them  good.  But  the  disciples, 
who  were  slow  to  rise  above  their 
Jewish  prejudices,  were  not  yet  pre- 
pared so  as  to  be  trusted  with  peo- 
ple or  in  places  where  their  national 
antipathies  were  likely  to  be  ex- 
cited. ''  Jesus,"  says  Dr.  Nichols, 
"  plainly  intended  to  i*estrict  his 
laljors,  and  those  of  his  Apostles 
also,  during  his  own  life,  within  the 
limits  of  the  Jewish  nation.  We 
may  not  know  his  reasons,  but  one 
naturally  occurs.     The  Judaic  ele- 


ment Avas  important  to  his  church 
at  that  period,  in  several  respects. 
Before  Christianity  had  gained  an 
establishment  in  the  world,  it  had 
special  occasion  for  those  aids  which 
this  element  might  afford  it.  One 
aid  was  the  remarkable  attachment 
of  the  Jew  to  his  own  Scriptures; 
and  to  these  Scriptures,  especially 
the  Prophecies,  Christianity  appeal- 
ed as  one  of  its  principal  supports. 
The  Old  Testament  was  the  classic, 
the  ridiric,  the  oracle,  the  glory  of 
the  Hebrew.  He  counted  its  very 
letters.  It  was  to  him  the  word  of 
God;  and  let  him  embrace  a  relig- 
ion as  being  based  upon  this  foun- 
dation, and  no  superstition  or  phi- 
losophy would  occasion  any  peril  to 
his  faith.  We  cannot  overlook  this 
reason,  why,  in  that  system  of  moral 
harmonies  which  always  character- 
izes the  Divine  administration,  the 
Christian  seed  should  have  been 
sown  in  a  Jewish  soil.  The  Gospel 
was  not  left  to  stand  alone  on  its 
OAvn  simple  moral  claims,  which 
the  world  was  so  little  prepared  to 
appreciate,  —  no,  nor  even  on  its 
own  mii-aculous  testimonials.  But 
there  was  a  religious  cultiu-e  in  the 
Jewish  mind  adapted  to  yield  it  a 
powerful  support,  such  as  it  could 
derive  from  no  other  human  source. 
God  was  pleased  to  connect  the  two 
systems  of  Judaism  and  Christian- 
ity ;  and  while  the  one  was  a  school- 
master to  bring  men  to  Christ,  the 
other  was  a  completion  and  confir- 
mation of  its  predecessor 

The  Jewish  convert  to  Christianity 
felt  an  intensity  of  interest  in  his 
new  belief  such  as  a  Jew  only  could 
feel.  Accustomed  to  look  upon  his 
own  nation  as  the  chosen  subject  of 
a  Divine  administration,  familiar 
with  special  manifestations  in  its 


MATTHEW   XV. 


285 


26  came  she  and  worshipped  him,  saying,  Lord,  help  me  !     But 
he   answered  and  said,  It  is  not  meet  to  take  the  ehildren's 

27  bread,  and  to  cast  it  to  dogs.      And  she  said,  Truth,  Lord ; 
yet  the  dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs  which  fall  from  their  master's 


fnvor  through  all  his  ancestral  his- 
tory, he  took  up  his  adopted  re- 
]\r^\on  with  a  trust  and  a  zeal  of 
Avliich  no  Gcjitile  belief  was  capa- 
ble, and  which  were  so  necessary  to 
bear  it  triumphantly  over  the  sea 
of  prejudice  and  persecution  upon 
which  it  was  then  launched.  Bless- 
ings wliich  ask  no  assistance  from 
circumstances  are  of  rare  occur- 
rence in  our  world."  Hours  with 
tJie  I^vangelists,  Vol.  I.  pp.  390  - 
.393.  2G.  to  dogs]    Utile 

doffs,  a  diminutive,  which  may  luiA-e 
been  used  somewhat  as  a  term  of 
endearment,  and  which  therefore 
may  have  taken  away  something 
from  the  appai-ent  harshness  of  our 
Saviour's  language  in  speaking 
thus  to  a  distressed  mother  respect- 
ing her  sntfering  child. 
27.  And  she  said,  Truth,  Lord  ; 
yet  the  dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs] 
Our  EngHsh  version  fails,  we  think, 
to  give  the  true  meaning  of  this 
passage.  The  exact  translation  is 
as  follows  :  "  Yea,  Lord  ;  for  the 
little  dogs  cat,"  &c.  In  conformity 
with  the  Greek  idiom,  we  are  to 
suppose  an  ellipsis  or  omission  be- 
fore the  Avord  y(ipi  for,  which  must 
be  supplied  in  English,  in  order  to 
make  the  passage  intelligible,  and 
may  be  given  as  follows  :  "  Yea, 
Lord  [but  do  not  deny  roe]  ;  for 
even  the  little  dogs,"  &c.  Bengel, 
whom  even  Winer  regards  as  a  great 
authority  in  such  matters,  says  : 
*'  The  particle  val  [  yea  ]  partly 
assents  ;  partly,  as  it  were,  places 
on  our  Lord's  tongue  the  assent  to 
her  prayers,  i.  e.  prays."  She  puts 
such  a  construction  on  his  words, 
that  while  by  the  expression,  '  Yea, 
Lord,'  she  assents  to  them,  she,  at 
the  same  time,  turns  aside  tlie  ap- 
parent edge  of  their  denial,  and 
draws  from  them  encouragement  to 
continue  her  petition,  Avhich  she 
does  in  the  most  delicate  way,  by  a 
turn  of   expression  ("  Yea,  Lord  ; 


for  even  the  little  dogs,"  &c.)  which 
implies  a  further  entreaty  on  her 
part,  though  it  does  not  state  it 
in  words.  It  is  impossible  to  sup- 
ply the  ellipsis  in  English  without 
maiTing  the  exceeding  fineness  and 
delicacy  of  the  sentiment.  The 
modesty  and  reverence  towards 
Christ  which  are  here  implied, — 
her  humility  in  regard  to  any  claims 
Avhich  she  might  have  upon  him,  — 
her  ready  assent  to  the  apparently 
disparaging  terms  in  which  he  hacl 
alluded  to  her  and  hers,  —  her  per- 
fect foith  in  him,  and  the  devoted 
love  for  her  child  Avhich,  while  it 
could  not  accept  any  refusal,  yet 
pressed  its  claims  with  such  a  deli- 
cate and  reverential  reserve  towards 
him  from  whom  she  knew  that  re- 
lief might  come,  —  give  a  peculiar 
and  affecting  moral  beauty  to  these 
words,  which  evidently  toiiched  our 
Saviour  as  indicating  to  him  the 
finest  qualities  of  character.  In  Dr. 
Cureton's  Syriac  Gospels,  a  word  is 
added,  which  is  found  both  in  the 
Peshito  and  the  Jerusalem  Syriac, 
and  which  heightens  the  interest 
and  pathos  of  the  passage  :  "  She 
saith  to  him,  Yea,  my  Lord  ;  for 
even  the  dogs  eat  of  "^  the  cmmbs 
which  fall  from  their  masters' 
tables,  and  live.''''  The  expression, 
and  live,  in  allusion  to  the  sick  child 
for  whose  life  she  is  pleading,  is 
one  of  those  fine  touches  of  nature 
which  can  hardly  be  counterfeited, 
and  which  bear  in  themselves  de- 
cisive marks  of  genuineness.  The 
whole  narrative  is  worthy  of  study; 
this  refined  and  delicate  woman,  as 
her  language  shows  her  to  have 
been,  in  her  distress  on  account  of 
her  daughter,  and  her  efforts  for  her 
relief,  forgetting  herself  and  every- 
thing around  her  so  entirely  as  to 
follow  after  Jesus  and  his  company 
of  men,  with  cries  which  Avere 
bringing  on  them  an  unpleasant 
amoxmt  of  attention;  her  following 


286 


MATTHEW    XV. 


table.     Then  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  her,  O  woman,  28 
great  is  thy  faith  ;  be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt.     And  her 
daughter  was  made  whole  from  that  very  hour. 

And  Jesus  departed  from  thence,  and  came  nigh  unto  the  29 
Sea  of  Galilee  ;  and  went  up  into  a  mountain,  and  sat  down 
there.      And  great   multitudes  came  unto  him,  liaving  with  30 
them  those  that  were  lame,  blind,  dumb,  maimed,  and  many 
others;    and  cast  them  down  at  Jesus's  feet,  and  he  healed 
them  ;  insomuch  that  the  multitude  wondered,  when  they  saw  3i 
the  dumb  to  speak,  the  maimed  to  be  whole,  the  lame  to  walk, 

and  the  blind  to  see  ;  and  they  glorified  the  God  of  Israel. 

Then  Jesus  called  his  disciples  unto  him,  and  said,  I  have  32 
compassion  on  the  multitude,  because  they  continue  with  me 
now  three  days,  and  have  nothing  to  eat ;  and  I  will  not  send 
them  away  fasting,  lest  they  faint  in  the  way.     And  his  disci-  33 
pies  say  unto  him.  Whence  should  we  have  so  much  bread  in 
the  wilderness,  as  to  fill  so  great  a  multitude  ?     And  Jesus  34 
saith  unto  them.  How  many  loaves  have  ye  ?     And  they  said. 
Seven,  and  a  few  little  fishes.     And  he  commanded  the  multi-  35 
tude  to  sit  down  on  the  ground.     And  he  took  the  seven  loaves  36 


after  him  still,  and  beseeching  him 
to  help  her,  though  he  answered  her 
not  a  Avord;  the  entreaty  of  the 
disciples  that  he  would  send  her 
aAvay,  and  his  reply  to  them  "  that 
he  is  not  sent  except  to  the  lost 
sheep  of  the  hovxse  of  Israel;  "  —  all 
these  things,  instead  of  discouraging 
her,  only  leading  her  to  pi'ostrate 
herself  before  him,  and  calling  out 
from  her  a  more  affecting  appeal 
to  him  for  help ;  —  every  one  of  the 
particulai's  is  worthy  of  attention, 
and  may  furnish  an  instructive 
lesson.  Such  persistency  in  ask- 
ing, and  yet  such  submissiveness; 
such  earnestness,  and  yet  such  rev- 
erence and  delicacy,  are  rarely  com- 
bined, and  they  furnish  a  beautiful 
tj'pe  of  Christian  character.  We 
see  here  as  elsewhere  how  the  mira- 
cle is  subordinated  to  its  higher  in- 
fluences and  teachings.  30. 
And  great  multitudes]  Jesus 
returns  to  Galilee,  and  is  encom- 
passed again  by  multitudes  of  peo- 
ple. To  those  who  travel  in  that 
region  now,  it  is  a  matter  of  wonder 


where  such  crowds  could  have  come 
from.  But  according  to  Josephus 
(See  IMilman's  Hist,  of  Christianity, 
Bk.  I.  Chap.  IV.)  the  whole  province 
of  Galilee  was  at  that  time  crowded 
with  flourishing  towns  and  cities, 
beyond  almost  any  other  region  of 
the  world.  According  to  his  state- 
ments, "  the  number  of  towns,  and 
the  population  of  Galilee,  in  a  dis- 
trict of  between  fifty  and  sixty 
miles  in  length,  and  between  sixty 
and  seventy  in  bi'eadth,  was  no 
less  than  204  cities  and  villages,  the 
least  of  Avhich  contained  15,000 
souls."  This  would  make,  for  the 
whole  province,  a  population  of 
more  than  three  millions.  There  is 
some  reason,  we  think,  to  question 
the  exactness  of  the  large  mimerical 
statements  Avhich  are  found  in 
ancient  Avriters  ;  but  after  all  rea- 
sonable deductions  have  been  made 
from  this  account,  there  will  still 
remain  a  population  sufficiently 
dense  to  confirm  the  Gospel  nar- 
ratives in  regard  to  the  ease  with 
which  large  multitudes  were  col- 


MATTHEW    XV.  287 

and  tlie  fishes,  and  gave  thanks,  and  brake  them,  and  gave  to 

37  his  disciples,  and  the  disciples  to  the  multitude.  And  they  did 
all  eat,  and  were  filled ;  and  they  took  up  of  the  broken  meat 

38  that  was  left  seven  baskets  full.     And  they  that  did  eat  were 

39  four  thousand  men,  beside  women  and  children.  And  he  sent 
aAvay  the  multitude,  and  took  ship,  and  came  into  the  coasts  of 
Magdala. 

Incted  in  that  region.  39.  :Magclalum,  so  some  MSS.,  in  Matt. 

Magdala]     In  Tischendorf  s  edi-  xv.   39,   turn   Magdala  into  :Maga- 

tion,  this  is  ]\Iagadan.     "As  Herodo-  dan."     Stanley.     In  the  Cui-etoniau 

tus   (11.   159)  turns    Megiddo   into  Syriac  Gospels  it  is  Magadun. 


288  MATTHEW   XVI.    1-4. 


CHAPTER   XYI. 

1-4.  —  A  Sign  from  Heaven. 

1-4.  The  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  demand  a  sign  from 
heaven.  They  had  witnessed  his  miracles,  but  wished  for 
something  more.  "  In  the  Jewish  superstition,"  says  Alford, 
"  it  was  held  that  demons  and  false  gods  could  give  signs  on 
earth,  but  only  the  true  God,  signs  from  heaven.''  "  And 
thus  we  find  that,  immediately  after  the  first  miraculous  feed- 
ing, the  same  demand  was  made,  (John  vi.  30,)  and  an- 
swered by  the  declaration  of  our  Lord,  that  He  was  the  true 
bread  from  heaven."  Reference  to  the  same  habit  of  the 
Jewish  mind  is  found  in  1  Cor.  i.  22,  "  The  Jews  demand 
signs,  and  the  Greeks  seek  for  wisdom."  It  probably  was 
at  the  close  of  the  day  when  the  demand  for  a  sign  from 
heaven  was  made  of  Jesus,  and  the  sunset  glow  of  the 
heavens  suggested  his  answer.  For  the  Jews,  according  to 
Lightfoot,  were  curious  in  observing  the  seasons,  and  in  fore- 
telling the  state  of  the  weather.  They  asked  of  him  a  sign 
from  heaven.  He  replies,  looking  probably  to  the  western 
sky,  "  It  being  now  evening,  ye  say.  It  will  be  fair,  for  the 
sky  is  red;  and,  in  the  morning,  ye  say,  there  will  be  a 
storm,  for  the  sky  is  red  and  lowering.  Ye  know  how 
to  distinguish  the  aspects  of  the  sky,  and  can  ye  not  also  un- 
derstand the  signs  of  the  times."  As  if  he  had  said  :  "  It  is 
your  business  to  understand  things  spiritual  and  divine. 
You  profess  to  be  the  moral  and  religious  teachers  of  this 
people.  And  here  you  are  asking  a  sign  from  heaven. 
But  how  is  it  that  ye  do  not  understand  the  signs  which  are 
actually  given  ?     You  know  how  to  foretell  the  state  of  the 


MATTHEW    XVI.    13-18.  289 

weather  from  the  aspect  of  the  sky,  and  can  ye  not,  in  the 
miracles  which  I  have  wrought,  and  the  truths  which  I  have 
been  teaching,  and  the  new  hfe  that  I  am  awakening,  see  the 
signs  of  the  times  ?  Can  ye  not  see  in  them  the  signs  of  a 
new  era,  of  a  purer  and  higher  kingdom  to  be  estabhshed  on 
earth  ?  If  your  minds  were  open  to  spiritual,  as  your  eyes 
are  to  material  things,  you  would  see  all  around  you  mani- 
fest indications  of  the^  changes  that  I  am  to  introduce." 

0-13.  The  noticeable  fact  here  is  the  extreme  slowness 
of  spiritual  apprehension  which  is  manifested  by  the  disci- 
ples, especially  when  their  perplexity  here  about  bread  is 
compared  with  the  specific  instructions  on  that  point  which 
had  just  been  given  to  them,  (xv.  11,)  and  repeated  with  an 
explanation,  (xv.  17-20,)  which  could  not  be  misunder- 
stood. 


13-18.  —  On  this  Rock  I  build  my  Church. 

The  above  conversation  took  place  on  the  vessel  as  they 
were  crossing  the  lake.  They  arrived  at  Bethsaida  on  the 
northeast  corner  of  the  lake,  and  in  passing  from  that  city 
to  Cnesarea  Philippi,  which  hes  far  to  the  north,  near 
Mount  Hermon,  the  remaining  incidents  recorded  in  this 
chapter  took  place. 

Who  do  men  say  that  I  the  Son  of  man  am  ?  They  re- 
ply, some  say  John  the  Baptist,  some  Elijah,  and  some  Jer- 
emiah, or  one  of  the  prophets.  These  different  views  pre- 
vailing at  that  time  show  the  vague,  but  at  the  same  time 
the  active  and  wide-spread  expectations  of  the  time.  The 
reply  of  Peter,  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living 
God,"  is  the  first  distinct  declaration  of  faith  on  the  part  of 
the  disciples.  Jesus  excepts  this  one  article  of  faith  as  con- 
taining the  true  idea  of  his  office,  and  the  foundation  of  his 
Church.  "  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon,  son  of  Jonah,  because 
flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  this  unto  thee,  but  my  Fa- 
ther who  is  in  the  heavens.  And  I  say  unto  thee  that  thou 
25 


290  MATTHEW   XVI.    19. 

art  a  rock  (Peter  means  rock),  and  on  this  rock  will  I 
build  my  Church,  and  the  gates  of  death  (Hades,  not  Ge- 
henna) shall  not  prevail  against  it." 

There  are  two  explanations  of  this  passage.  According 
to  one,  Peter  is  identified  with  the  declaration  which  he  has 
just  made,  as  the  person  hearing  the  word  is  identified  with 
what  he  hears  (xiii.  20.)  When  Jesus  therefore  says, 
"  Thou  art  a  rock,  and  on  this  rock  will  I  build  my  Church," 
he  means  that  this  confession  of  faith  in  him  as  the  Messiah, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God,  is  the  foundation  on  which  his 
Cliurch  is  to  be  built.  According  to  the  other  explanation, 
Peter  himself,  as  the  foremost  of  the  disciples,  and  the  first 
to  recognize  from  the  teachings  of  Jesus  this  essential  truth, 
is  the  stone  or  pillar  on  which  his  Church  is  to  be  built. 
''  He  was,"  says  Alford,  "  the  first  of  those  foundation-stones 
(Eph.  ii.  20,  Rev.  xxi.  14,)  on  which  the  living  temple  of 
God  was  built ;  this  building  itself  beginning  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost  by  the  laying  of  three  thousand  living  stones  on 
this  very  foundation."  For  this  sort  of  reference  to  the  pil- 
lars and  stones  of  the  spiritual  building  see  1  Peter  ii.  4-6, 
1  Tim.  iii.  15,  Gal.  ii.  9,  Eph.  ii.  20,  Rev.  iii.  12. 

19.  —  The  Keys  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heavex. 

In  verse  19  the  figure  is  changed.  "I  give  to  thee  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt 
bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven,  and  whatsoever 
thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven."  The 
kingdom  of  Heaven  is,  1.  The  religion  of  Jesus,  with  its 
Divine  influences,  entering  the  individual  soul,  and  establish- 
ing its  dominion  over  it.  2.  When  it  has  entered  different 
souls  and  united  them  under  its  authority  into  a  community, 
it  becomes  an  outward  institution  or  kingdom,  receiving  or 
rejecting  men  according  to  its  influence  over  thom  individu- 
ally. 3.  But  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  does  not  fulfil  and 
complete  its  work  here  on  the  earth.     When  those  who  have 


MATTHEW    XVI.    19.  291 

submitted  to  its  influence  and  authority  here  lay  down  the 
burden  of  the  flesh,  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  is  the  name 
applied  to  the  more  perfect  and  glorious  condition  of  being 
into  which  they  then  enter.  Jesus  uses  the  expression  in 
these  three  different  ways.  When  therefore  he  says  to  Pe- 
ter, "  I  will  give  to  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven," 
he  means,  I  will  give  to  thee  the  truths  by  which  my  re- 
ligion shall  be  unlocked  and  laid  open  to  the  souls  of  men, 
so  that  it  may  act  upon  them  as  a  spiritual  power,  and  re- 
ceive them  into  itself  as  an  outward  institution,  or  a  divinely 
organized  community  of  souls.  And  more  than  this.  So  far, 
its  work  is  on  the  earth.  But  it  is  not  confined  to  the  earth. 
What  is  done  here,  in  this  lower  sphere  of  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven  in  accordance  with  its  laws,  applies  with  equal  force 
in  its  higher  sphere,  in  the  heavens,  where  those  same. laws 
prevail.  Whatever  is  done  in  accordance  with  those  laws 
here  is  recognized  as  in  accordance  with  them  there  above, 
wherever  that  kingdom  extends.  Whatever  is  bound  or 
loosed  in  accordance  with  them  here,  has  the  sanction  of 
Heaven,  and  is  bound  or  loosed  there.  They  who,  accept- 
ing the  offers  of  salvation,  become  members  of  the  kingdom 
of  Heaven  on  earth,  become  by  that  act  members  of  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven  above ;  and  they  who  by  rejecting  its 
offers  exclude  themselves  from  it  here,  at  the  same  time 
close  its  doors  against  them  in  the  heavens.  In  this  sense, 
what  is  bound  or  loosed  on  earth  is  bound  or  loosed  in 
heaven. 

But  how  is  it  that  Jesus  uses  this  language  in  his  address 
to  Peter  alone  ?  It  is  addressed  to  him  as  the  spokesman 
or  representative  of  the  Apostles.  As  Olshausen  has  said, 
"That  which  at  verse  19  is  spoken  to  St.  Peter  is  at  Matt, 
xviii.  18,  John  xx.  23,  addressed  to  all  the  Apostles.  One 
cannot  therefore  find  in  these  words  anything  that  is  peculiar 
to  St.  Peter ;  he  merely  answers  as  the  organ  of  the  college 
of  Apostles,  and  Christ,  acknowledging  him  as  such,  re- 
plies to  him,  and  speaks  through  him  to  them  alW     "  That 


292  MATTHEW   XVI.    21-28. 

which  is  through  St.  Peter  bestowed  on  the  Apostles,  was 
again  through  the  Apostles  conferred  on  the  whole  Church." 
"  That  the  Apostles  then,  and  their  true  successors  in  the 
Spirit,  turned  with  the  word  of  truth  towards  one  place,  and 
away  from  another,  that  they  followed  up  their  labors  on  one 
man  and  not  on  another,  in  this  consisted  the  binding  and 
loosing.  The  whole  new  spiritual  community  which  the 
Saviour  seems  to  found  took  its  rise  from  the  Apostles  and 
their  labors.  No  one  became  a  Christian  save  through  them, 
and  thus  the  Church  through  all  time  is  built  up  in  living 
union  with  its  origin.  Christianity  is  no  bare  summary  of 
truths  and  reflections  to  which  a  man  even  in  a  state  of  iso- 
lation might  attain ;  it  is  a  life-stream  which  flows  through 
the  human  race,  and  its  fountains  must  reach  every  separate 
individual  who  is  to  be  drawn  within  this  circle  of  life.  The 
Gospel  is  identified  and  grown  into  union  with  the  persons. 
The  explanation,  therefore,  of  the  passage  which  the  Prot- 
estant Church  usually  opposes  to  the  view  of  the  Catholics, 
according  to  which  the  faith  of  Peter,  and  the  confession  of 
that  faith,  is  the  rock,  is  entirely  the  correct  one,  —  only  the 
faith  itself  and  his  confession  of  it  must  not  be  regarded  as 
apart  from  Peter  himself  personally." 


21-28.  —  The    Humiliation    and     Sufferings    of    the 
Messiah. 

21.  Here  commences  a  new  era  in  the  ministry  of  Jesus. 
He  now  for  the  first  time  openly  and  plainly  (Mark  viii.  32) 
announced  to  his  disciples  the  sufferings  and  death  and  res- 
urrection from  the  dead  through  which  he  was  soon  to  pass. 
They  could  not  take  in  the  idea.  They  remembered  his 
words,  but  it  was  not  till  after  his  resurrection  that  they  un- 
derstood what  was  meant  by  them.  The  words  were  indeed 
so  fearfully  distinct,  that  at  first  they  could  not  be  misinter- 
preted. Peter,  adhering  still  to  his  mistaken  ideas  of  the 
Messiah  and  his  kingdom,  and  unable  to  admit  the  possibil- 


MATTHEW   XVI.    21-28.  293 

ity  of  such  degradation  and  sufferings  as  have  just  been 
foretold,  in  the  ardent  impetuosity  which  so  often  showed 
itself  in  his  conduct,  laid  hold  on  Jesus,  and  remonstrated 
with  him  as  one  does  with  a  friend  in  despondency.  (See 
Whately,  Good  and  Evil  Spirits,  p.  135.)  "  God  be  gra- 
cious to  thee,  Lord ;  this  thing  shall  not  be  to  thee."  As  if 
he  had  said,  "  There  is  no  ground  for  such  gloomy  appre- 
hensions. This  cannot  be."  It  was  an  act  of  ignorant  pre- 
sumption for  him  to  address  Jesus  in  this  way.  The  sugges- 
tion evidently  touched  him  most  keenly.  Turning  to  Peter, 
and  looking  at  the  disciples  (Mark  viii.  33),  he  rebuked  Pe- 
ter, and  said  to  him,  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan ;  thou  art 
a  stumbling-block  to  me,  because  thou  regardest  not  the 
things  of  God,  but  the  things  of  men." 

Why  does  Jesus  show  such  extreme  sensitiveness  ?  He 
had  used  the  same  expression  once  before  (Matt.  iv.  10),  in 
his  last  reply  to  the  tempter  in  the  wilderness.  It  has  been 
supposed  that  it  is  not  applied  to  Peter  so  much  as  to  the 
evil  spirit  from  whom  the  suggestion  came.  But  the  lan- 
guage is  very  explicit.  "  Turning,  he  said  to  Peter,  Get 
thee  behind  me,  Satan,"  thou  tempter.  Here,  as  in  the 
other  case  (iv.  10,  see  note  there),  where  the  same  expres- 
sion is  used,  there  is  something  which  indicates  a  peculiar 
sensitiveness,  as  if  Jesus  entered  enough  into  the  feeling  of 
the  disciple  to  be  himself  not  wholly  insensible  to  the  temp- 
tation which  came  here  under  its  most  insidious  form.  "  Un- 
questionably," says  Olshausen,  "  the  Saviour  must  be  con- 
ceived of  as  having  maintained  one  continuous  conflict  with 
temptations.  The  great  periods  of  such  temptations  at  the 
commencement  and  termination  of  his  ministry  exhibit, 
merely  in  a  concentrated  form,  what  ran  through  his  whole 
life.  Here  then,  for  the  first  time,  there  meets  our  view  a 
moment  in  which  temptation  assails  him  by  holding  forth 
the  possibility  of  escaping  sufferings  and  death.  It  was  all 
the  more  concealed  and  dangerous  that  it  came  to  him 
through  the  lips  of  a  dear  disciple,  who  had  just  soleranl/ 
25* 


294  MATTHEW   XVI.    21-28. 

acknowledged  his  divine  dignity.  From  the  clear  and  pure 
fountain  of  Christ's  life  no  unholy  thought  could  flow ;  but 
inasmuch  as  he  was  to  be  a  conqueror  victorious  over  sin, 
it  had  to  draw  near,  that  in  every  form  he  might  overthrow 
it;  and  upon  his  human  nature,  which  only  by  degrees 
received  within  itself  the  whole  fulness  of  the  divine  life, 
sin,  when  it  drew  near,  did  make  an  impression."  Instantly, 
however,  in  this  case,  on  feeling  the  power  of  the  temptation, 
he  recognized  the  source  from  which  it  came,  and  by  the 
harsh  word  which  he  used  in  his  reply  to  Peter,  he  laid  open 
to  him  the  wicked  agency  or  wrong  principle  and  motive  by 
which  the  suggestion  had  been  prompted. 

Nor  does  he  stop  with  the  disclosure  of  what  is  wrong 
in  the  disciple.  He  lays  down,  24  —  28,  more  strongly, 
and  with  words  of  more  fearful  and  solemn  interest,  the 
utter  self-renunciation  which  would  be  required  of  his 
followers.  We  have  no  language  which  comes  up  to  the 
full  force  of  the  idea  here  set  forth.  Utterly  to  deny  and 
renounce  themselves,  —  to  take  up  the  cross,  that  appalling 
instrument  of  degradation  and  torture  and  death,  and  fol- 
low Him  —  is  what  he  sets  before  them  as  their  duty  now. 
But  he  rises  into  a  region  of  thought  which  makes  even 
these  sacrifices  seem  small.  "  For  what,"  he  asks,  "  shall 
a  man  be  profited,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world  and 
lose  his  own  soul  ?  Or  what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange 
for  his  soul  ?  For  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  the  glory 
of  his  Father  with  his  angels ;  and  then  shall  he  reward 
every  man  according  to  his  doing."  Here  we  are  lifted 
lip  amid  the  retributions  of  another  world.  The  sacrifices 
made  here,  the  obedience,  in  self-renunciation  and  holy 
living,  of  those  who  follow  him  in  his  conflicts  and  humilia- 
tion, will  be  rewarded  by  him,  when  in  that  higher  world 
he  shall  meet  them  with  the  ensigns  of  his  greatness, 
in  the  glory  of  his  Father,  and  attended  by  his  angels. 

Then,  v.  28,  by  one  of  those  sudden  transitions  which 
are  so  common  with  him,  he  comes  down  from  the  thouf^ht 


MATTHEW    XVI.  295 

of  his  kingdom,  in  its  glorious  consummation  with  ran- 
somed souls  above,  to  the  time  of  its  establishment  and 
ascendency  on  earth,  i.  e.  to  the  time  when,  with  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews,  and 
the  overthrow  of  the  whole  Jewish  polity,  the  sacrifice 
and  the  obhition  should  cease,  the  old  religion  no  longer 
])e  recognized  in  the  region  where  it  had  so  long  pre- 
vailed, and  the  religion  of  Christ,  the  Son  of  man  coming 
in  his  kingdom,  should  take  its  place  as  the  only  true 
worship  among  men. 


NOTES. 


The  Pharisees  also,  with  the  Sadducees,  came,  and,  tempt- 
ing, desired  hun  that  he  would  show  them  a  sign  from  heaven. 

2  He  answered  and  said  unto  them,  When  it  is  evening,  ye  say, 

3  It  will  be  fair  weather ;  for  the  sky  is  red.  And  in  the  morn- 
ing, It  will  be  foul  weather  to-day  ]  for  the  sky  is  red  and 
lowering.     O  ye  hypocrites !    ye  can  discern  the  face  of  the 

4  sky,  but  can  ye  not  discern  the  signs  of  the  times  ?  A  wicked 
and  adulterous  generation  secketh  after  a  sign  ;  and  there  shall 
no  sign  be  given  unto  it,  but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas. 
And  he  left  them  and  departed. 

1.  The  Pharisees  also,  with  shows  how  grieved  onr  Saviour  was. 

the    Sadduceesl      The  Pharisees  "  Groaning  in  his  spirit,  i.  e.  with  a 

overlaid  the  Law  with  their  tradi-  deep  sigh,   he   says,   '  Why  is  this 

tions,  and   thus    made   it  of   none  generation    seeking  for  a  sign?'" 

effect   through    their    superstitious  It   was   not  anger,   but  grief,   that 

and  hypocritical  observances.    (See  tempered  his  indignation.                3. 

XV.  1-20.)    The  Sadducees  bv  their  O  ye  hypocrites]     These  words, 

unbelief,  retaining  the  letter  of  the  or  rather  the  one  word  hyixtcntts,  is 

laAv,  but  exnlainincr  it  awav  in   a  omitted  by  Tischeudorf.     The  term 

captious  and  scen^^ical    snirit,  ren-  hyiwcrUes  is  one  which  Jesus  never 

dered  it  of  none  effect.     These  hos-  in   any  other   case    applied   to   the 

tile    ppo^^s.    however,    could    forset  Sadducees;    and  it  is  not  probable 

their  difference"!  lonjr  enough  to  at-  that  it  was  so  appli.^d  here.     They 

tack  one  whose  simple,  enersetic,  were  rather  an  unbelieving  than  a 

and   lifp-o-ivin?     tniths    laid  "open  self-righteous  and  hypocritical  sect, 

the  emptiness'of  their  pretensions,  He  applies  the  word  to  the  Scribes 

and  overthrew   alike   the   religious  and    Pharisees,    but    not   to   them, 

reasoninirs  of  both.                           2.  4.  the   si§rn   of  the 

He    answered]    Mark  (viii.  12)  prophet  Jonas]    ( See  note  to  xu. 


296  MATTHEW    XVI. 

And  when  his  disciples  were  come  to  the  other  side,  they  had  5 
forgotten  to  take  bread.     Then  Jesus  said  unto  them,  Take   6 
lieed,  and  beware  of  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees  and  of  the 
Saddueees.      And  they  reasoned  among  themselves,  saying,   i 
It  is  because  we  have  taken  no  bread.     Which  when  Jesus  8 
perceived,  he  said  unto  them,  O  ye  of  little  faith,  why  reason 
ye  among  yourselves,  because  ye  have  brought  no  bread  ?     Do   9 
ye  not  yet  undei^stand,  neither  remember  the  five  loaves  of  the 
five  thousand,  and  how  many  baskets  ye  took  up  ?  neither  the  lo 
seven  loaves  of  the  four  thousand,  and  how  many  baskets  ye 
took  up  ?     How  is  it  that  ye  do  not  understand  that  I  spake  it  n 
not  to  you  concerning  bread,  that  ye  should  beware  of  the 
leaven  of  the  Pharisees  and  of  the  Saddueees  ?     Then  under-  u 
stood  they  how  that  he  bade  them  not  beware  of  the  leaven 
of  bread,  but  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Pharisees  and  of  the  Sad- 
dueees. 

When  Jesus  came  into  the  coasts  of  Caesarea  Philipjji,  he  13 
asked  his  disciples,  saying,  Whom  do  men  say  that  I,  the  Son 
of  man,  am  ?     And  they  said.  Some  say  that  thou  art  John  14 
the  Baptist;  some,  Elias ;  and  others,  Jeremias,  or  one  of  the 
prophets.     He  saith  unto  them,  But  whom  say  ye  that  I  am  ?  is 


39.)  If  the  ficcount  of  the  prophet  then  to  wonder  that  he  repeated 
Jonah  were,  like  the  parable  of  the  often  the  same  thought  in  nearly  the 
Good  Samaritan  or  of  the  Prodigal  same  words.  If,  therefore,  we  find 
Son,  not  a  historical  narrative,  but  in  the  different  Evangelists  nearh' 
a  story  invented  for  the  purpose  of  the  same  instructions  given  under 
teaciiing  the  impossibility  of  fleeing  different  circumstances,  we  are  not 
from  the  requirements  of  God  ;  it  to  suppose  that  one  or  the  other 
would  none  tlie  less  serve  as  a  si(;n  of  the  ^\Titers  has  made  a  mistake, 
of  the  Saviour's  death  and  resur-  but  that  Jesus,  in  conformity  with 
rection  from  the  dead.  Some  holy  the  wants  of  his  hearers,  repeated 
man  may  have  been  inspired  of  his  instructions  again  and  again. 
God  to  teach  tliis  great  truth,  in  the  9,  10.  baskets]  In  the 
way  in  which  it  is  tliere  taught,  as  ninth  verse  it  is  cophini,  and  in 
by  a  poem  or  a  parable.  Tlie  lesson  the  tenth  s/wm/es,  entirely  diflerent 
is  none  the  less  true  or  important  words.  The  same  distinction  is 
because  it  is  thus  taught ;  nor  does  found  in  Mark.  In  Dr.  Cureton's 
Jesus,  in  alluding  to  it  in  the  man-  Syriac  Gospels,  the  first  word  is 
ner  he  does,  express  any  opinion  as  translated  baskets,  the  second  pan- 
to whether  it  is  historical  or  not.  niers.  The  distinction  is  important, 
7.  It  is  because  Ave  as  indicating  two  different  miracU's. 
have  taken  no  bread]  How  could  13.  that  I,  the  Son  of 
they  have  forgotten  so  soon  what  man]  Observe  how  often  Jesus 
Jesus  had  told  them  V  (xv.  16-20.)  uses  this  expression,  as  if  to  iudi- 
Their  dulness  in  this  case  shows  how  cate  his  intimate  relationship  to  our 
they  needed  line  upon  line  and  pre-  humanity.  The  Son  of  man,  who 
cept  upon  precept.      We  are    not  stood  with  the  Jews  for  the  Mes- 


MATTHEW   XVI. 


297 


16  And  Simon  Peter  answered  and  said,  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the 

17  Son  of  the  living  God.    And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  him, 
Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-jona;  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not 

18  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father,  which  is  in  heaven.    And 


siah,  thoii.ffh  it  was  not  a  term  exclu- 
sively applied  to  him.  16. 
Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son 
of  the  living  God]  Here  is  the 
counterpart  to  our  Saviour's  own 
expression.  He  was  the  Sou  of 
God  as  he  was  the  Son  of  man, 
antl  thus  the  mediator  between  God 
and  man.  Here  is  the  first  and 
only  Gospel  creed  respecting  Jesus, 
and  it  gained  liis  earnest  and  em- 
phatic approval.  Perhaps  it  is  in 
reference  to  this  that  St.  John  more 
than  once  in  his  first  Epistle  uses 
this  expression  :  "Wliosoever  shall 
confess  that  .Jesus  is  the  Son  of 
God,  God  dwelleth  in  him,  and  he 
in  God."  "  He  that  believeth  in 
the  Son  of  God,  hath  the  witness  in 
himself."  "  These  things  have  I 
written  unto  you  that  believe  in  the 
name  of  the  Son  of  God;  that  ye 
may  know  that  ye  have  eternal 
life,  and  that  ye  may  believe  in  the 
name  of  the  Son  of  God."  "  Who 
is  he  that  overcome th  the  world, 
but  he  that  believeth  that  Jesus  is 
the  Son  of  God?"  It  had  been 
well  for  the  peace  and  unity  of  the 
Church,  if  the  successors  of  the 
Apostles  had  been  as  modest  and  as 
truthful  as  they  were  in  what  they 
required  as  articles  of  faith  on  this 
great  subject.  There  never  can  be 
unity  in  the  Church  of  Christ  till 
his  professed  followers  consent  to 
come  back  to  the  simplicity  and 
power  of  his  instnictions  as  we  find 
them  set  forth  and  expounded  in 
the  Gospels,  and  in  the  other  writ- 
ings of  the  New  Testament.  We 
accept  the  words  of  Peter  as  in- 
dorsed and  approved  by  his  Mas- 
ter. They  were  heard  from  heaven 
("  This  is  my  beloved  Son,"  Matt, 
iii.  17)  as  "Jesus  came  up  from 
the  baptismal  waters  of  the  Jordan, 
and  the  heavens  were  opened  to 
him.  They  were  repeated  again 
from  heaven  on  the  Moimtain  of 
Transfiguration.  (Ahitthew  xvii.  5.) 
They  are  dwelt  upon  with  aflecting 


earnestness  by  St.  John,  both  in  his 
Gospel  and  his  Epistles.  At  what 
was  perhaps  originally  the  close  of 
his  Gospel  (John  xx.  31)  he  says  : 
"  But  these  are  written,  that'  ye 
might  believe  that  .Jesus  is  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God;  and  that 
believing  ye  might  have  life  through 
his  name."  Why  can  we  not  be 
content  with  this?  Why  must  we 
go  beneath  it  with  any  poor  meta- 
physical analysis  of  ours  to  deter- 
mine precisely  what  is  meant  by 
these  great  words,  and  impose  our 
definition  on  others  as  an  article  of 
faith,  without  assent  to  which  they 
cannot  be  admitted  into  the  Church 
of  Christ,  but  must,  in  the  blasphe- 
mous words  of  the  Athanasian  creed, 
"  without  doubt  perish  everlast- 
ingly." It  is  a  presumptuous  and 
awful  thing  for  men  to  impose  con- 
ditions which  Christ  never  imposed, 
and  to  erect  barriers  which  were 
never  authorized  by  him  in  the  way 
of  admission  to  his  Church. 

17.  Simon  Bar-jona]  Simon, 
son  of  Jonas.  "  It  is  exceedingly 
probable  that  this  is  intended  to 
form  a  contrast  to  the  foi-egoing 
Jesus,  Son  of  God.  Siinon  denotes 
here,  as  does  Jesus,  the  human  per- 
sonality of  the  individual  ;  son  of 
Jonas  is  probably  used  here  in  a 
figurative  sense.  Primarily  it  is 
indeed  a  genealogical  designation 
(John  i.  42,  xxi.  16,  17  );  but  as 
Hebrew  names  generally  are  de- 
scriptive, Christ  here  looks  to  the 
import  of  the  name.  Perhaps  he 
referred  it  to  Jona,  a  dove ;  and  in 
that  case  this  meaning  woidd  arise, 
'  Thou,  Simon,  art  a  child  of  the 
Spirit  (alluding  to  the  Holy  Spirit 
under  the  svmbol  of  a  dove)  :  God, 
the  Father' of  Spirits  (Heb.  xii.  9), 
hath  revealed  himself  to  thee.' 
Where  God  reveals  himself  there  is 
formed  a  spiritual  man."  Olshau- 
sen.  flesh  and  blood] 

No  man,  no  merely  human  faculties, 
have  revealed  this  to  you ;  "  only 


298 


MATTHEW    XVI. 


I  say  also  unto  thee,  That  thou  art  Peter ;  and  upon  this  rock  I 
will  build  my  church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail 
against  it.  And  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  19 
of  Heaven ;  and  Avhatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be 
bound  in  heaven ;  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall 
be  loosed  in  heaven.     Then  charged  he  his  disciples,  that  they  20 


the  divine    can  teach  us  to  know 
the  divine."  18.  Thou  art 

Peter  [a  rock]  ;   and  upon  this 
rock  I  will  build  my  church] 

From  tlie  earliest  days  of  our  relig- 
ion, the  Christian  Church  or  com- 
munity of  believers  has  been  repre- 
sented* as  a  building.  The  Greek 
woi'd  ecclesia,  like  its  English  syuo- 
nyme  the  church,  means  either  the' 
community  of  worshippers,  or  the 
place  in  -which  they  meet  for  wor- 
ship. The  word  synagogue,  in  its 
Greek  form,  is  applied  either  to  the 
congregation  or  to  the  building  in 
•which "they  assemble.  The  Greek 
word  fK<Krf(Tia,  or  church,  is  seldom 
used  in  the  New  Testament  to  de- 
note a  building  set  apart  for  relig- 
ious purposes.  The  Christians  at 
that  time  had  no  such  buildings. 
But  in  one  case  at  least  the  place  of 
worship  is  called  the  church  (1  Tim. 
iii.  15)  :  "in  the  house  of  God, 
which  is  the  church  of  the  living 
God."  The  Church  itself,  the  com- 
munity of  believers,  is  constantly 
represented  as  a  building,  and  its 
members  are  represented  as  living 
stones  of  which  it  is  built,  or  as 
foundations  or  pillars  on  Avhich  it 
rests.  "  Ye  are  God's  building." 
(1  Cor.  iii.  9.)  "  Ye  are  the  temple 
of  the  living  God."  (2  Cor.vi.  16.) 
."  Ye  also,  as  living  stones,  are  built 
up  a  spiritual  house."  (1  Peter  ii. 
5.)  "  And  are  built  upon  the 
foundation  of  the  Apostles  and 
prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being 
the  chief  corner-stone,  in  whom  all 
the  building,  fitlv  framed  together, 
groweth  xuito  a  holy  temple  in  the 
Lord."  (Eph.  ii.  20,21.)  "  And  the 
wall  of  the  city  had  twelve  founda- 
tions, and  in  them  the  names  of  the 
tAvelve  Apostles  of  the  Lamb." 
(Rev.  xxi.  14.)  If  we  familiarize 
ourselves     with    these    forms     of 


speech,  the  words  of  Jesus  in  the 
passage  before  us  will  be  found 
to  harmonize  with  them  easily, 
and  to  express,  though  by  a  more 
pointed  and  individual  applica- 
tion, no  more  than  Paul  meant 
when  he  spoke  of  being  "  built  on 
the  foundation  of  the  Apostles  and 
prophets,"  or  than  the  author  of  the 
Apocalypse  meant  when  he  spoke 
of  the  Twelve  Apostles  as  the 
twelve  foundations  of  the  wall  of 
the  new  Jerusalem.  the  gates 

of  hell]  gates  of  death,  —  the 
power  of  the  kingdom  of  death. 
An  Oriental  fomi  of  speech  still 
used  when  we  speak  of  the  Turkish 
power  as  "the  Ottoman  Porte." 
19.  And  I  will  give 
unto  thee  the  keys  of  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven]  "  The 
Jews  familiarly  used  the  terms  '  to 
bind '  and  '  to  loose  '  metaphorically, 
in  the  sense  of  '  to  forbid  '  and  '  Ito 
pennit.'  They  used  them  concern- 
ing the  teachers  of  their  Law,  Avho 
were  supposed  capable  of  explain- 
ing its  requirements,  —  what  it  for- 
bade and  what  it  pennitted.  When 
Jesus  says,  'I  will  give  you  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,'  his 
meaning  is,  I  will  appoint  you  a  min- 
ister of  my  religion,  to  make  known 
to  men  the  terms  on  which  they 
may  enter  the  kingdom  of  Heaven. 
What  follows  is  an  amplification  of 
this  idea :  —  I  appoint  you  a  teacher 
and  expositor  of  my  religion,  to 
declare  to  men  its  reqiiirements, 
what  it  forbids  and  permits;  and, 
be  assured  that  what  is  thus  forbid- 
den and  pennitted  by  you  is  for- 
bidden and  permitted  by  God.  It 
is  of  the  authority  of  Peter  as  a 
minister  of  his  religion  that  Jesus 
speaks,  and  not  of  any  power  to  be 
exercised  according  to  his  discretion 
as  an  individual."    Norton. 


MATTHEW   XVI. 


299 


21  should  tell  no  man  that  he  was  Jesus,  the  Christ. From 

that  time  forth  began  Jesus  to  show  unto  his  disciples,  how 
that  he  must  go  unto  Jerusalem,  and  suffer  many  things  of  the 
elders,  and  chief  priests,  and  scribes,  and  be  killed,  and  be 

22  raised  again  the  third  day.     Then  Peter  took  him,  and  began 


20.  that  they  should  tell  no 
man  that  he  is  the  Christ  ]    The 

d;s.'iples  now  received  him  as  the 
Messiah  ;  but  the  time  had  not  yet 
come  when  he  was  pubUcly  to  be 
declared  and  recognized  as  such. 
When  that  time  sliould  come,  his 
death  would  be  near  at  hand. 

21.  From  that  time  forth] 
The  altered  tone  of  our  Saviour's 
communications  to  his  disciple*, 
"from  that  time  forth,"  is  very 
observable.  The  confession  of  faith 
in  him  as  the  Messiah,  which  had 
been  made  by  Peter,  seems  to  have 
quickened  his  sympathy  for  them, 
and  to  have  increased  his  confidence 
in  them.  A  new  era  in  his  inter- 
course with  tliem  had  arrived. 
Hitherto  he  has  alluded  mysteri- 
ously to  his  death.  But  now,  as  in 
the  strong  language  of  Peter,  they 
have  expressed'their  belief  in  him  as 
the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living 
God,  he  sees  that  the  time  has 
come  when  he  must  teach  them  as 
l)lainly  as  possible  in  regard  to  the 
ti-ue  nature  of  his  mission.  Thus 
ha  speaks  of  his  humiliation  and 
death  here,  and  shows  these  things 
in  connection  with  his  exaltation  m 
the  next  chapter.  He  wished  them 
to  understand  what  lay  before  him, 
and  so  to  understand  it  in  its  rela- 
tion to  a  true  spiritual  greatness 
that  thev  might  not  be  permanently 
depressed  and  discouraged  by  it. 
Thev  receive  his  communications  at 
first'  like  men  who  have  been  stun- 
ned by  some  dreadful,  and,  there- 
fore, incredible  disclosure.  That 
he,  the  Son  of  God,  the  long-ex- 
pected Messiah,  who  was  to  over- 
come and  rule  the  world,  should  die 
a  violent  and  shameful  death,  was 
something  too  astounding  to  be  be- 
lieved, or  even  understood.  And 
that  further  communication, 
and  be  raised  again  on  the 
third  day]  which  to  us  now  throws 


such  a  halo  over  the  cross  and  the 
tomb, was  even  more  unintelligible  to 
them.  After  the  Transfiguration,  it  is 
said  (Mark  ix.  10),  "  And  they  kept 
that  saying  with  themselves,  ques- 
tioning with  one  another  what  the 
rising  from  the  dead  should  mean." 
Again,  in   reference    to  the    same 
subject,  it  is  said  (Mark  ix.  32),  "But 
they  understood   not  that    saying, 
and  were  afraid  to  ask  him."     No 
plainer  language  than  his  could  be 
used;but  the  idea  itself,in  its  relation 
to   him,  was  one  which  they  could 
not  take  in ;  and  it  was  not  till  after 
his  resurrection  that  his  plainest  in- 
structions respecting  his  death  could 
be  understood.     The   thought  was 
too  strange  and  repulsive  to  be  ac- 
cepted bv  them.      Their  first  feel- 
ing, therefore,  when  the  words  were 
urged  and  pressed  upon  them,  was 
one   of  astonishment  and  incredu- 
lity.    It  seemed  to  them  that  their 
I^Iaster,  in  a  moment  of  depression 
and  discouragement,  had  given  way 
to  unreasonable  apprehensions  and 
forebodings.    This  supposition  alone 
explains  the  conduct  and  the   lan- 
guage of  Peter.  22.  And 
Peter  took  him,  and  began  to 
rebuke  him]      For  the   moment, 
Peter  assumed  the  attitude    of   a 
superior.     Not  in  anger,  but  with  a 
condescension  of  sympathy,  such  as 
a  loving  child  may  exercise  towards 
a  suff"ering  parent,  or  a  faithful  ser- 
vant towards   an   unfortunate   and 
discouraged    master,    he    laid    his 
hand  [soothingly]   upon    him,  and 
said,  in  opposition  to  the  disheart- 
ening words  which  Jesus  had  just 
spoken,  "  God  be  gracious  to  you. 
Lord:  this  shall  not  happen  to  you." 
The  word  eniTi^xoiv,  which  is  trans- 
lated  rebuke,  does   not  involve  the 
idea  of  personal  anger  or  of  moral 
disapprobation.     Thus,  Jesus   "  re- 
buked the  Avind  and  the  sea  "  (Matt, 
viii.  26);   i.   e.    he    said    to  them, 


!00 


MATTHEW   XVI. 


to  rebuke  lilm,  saying,  Be  it  far  from  thee,  Lord ;  this  shall 
not  be  unto  thee.     But  he  turned  and  said  unto  Peter,  Get  23 
thee  behind  me,  Satan  ;  thou  art  an  offence  unto  me  ;  for  thou 
savorest  not  the  things  that  be  of  God,  but  those  that  be  of 

n^en. Then  said  Jesus  unto  his  disciples,  If  any  man  will  24 

come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross,  and 


"Peace,  be  still."  (Mark  iv.  39.) 
The  word  is  used  to  express  an  ear- 
nest remonstrance  against  what  one 
is  doing,  or  what  he  might  be  in- 
clined to  do.  "  And  Jesns  charrjed 
(it  is  the  same  word)  them  not  to 
make  him  known"  (Matt,  xii.  16); 
i.  e.  he  remonstrated  with  them 
against  what  he  saw  was  their  wish 
and  purpose  to  make  him  known. 
So  Peter  here  remonstrated  with 
Jesus  against  (what  seemed  to 
him)  the  desponding  and  humiliat- 
ing view  Avhich  he  had  just  given 
of  his  ministry.  But  he 

turned  asid  said  unto  Peter] 
The  language  in  Mark  (viii.  33)  is 
more  grai>liic  :  "  When  he  had 
turned  about,  and  looked  on  his 
disciples,  he  rebuked  Peter."  He 
first  looked  at  his  disciples.  He  saw 
liow  they  v/ere  affected  by  this  act 
of  patn/nizing  familiarity  and  re- 
monstrance on  the  part  of  Peter, 
and  that  they  probably  were  all 
moved  by  the  same  unworthy  view 
of  his  words  which  Peter  had 'taken. 
He  may  also  himself  have  sympa- 
thized with  them,  so  far  as  to  feel  a 
momentary  shudder  at  the  thought 
of  that  which  afterwards,  at  its  near 
approach,  brought  upon  him  such 
an  agony  of  grief.  And,  therefore, 
to  regain  instantly  his  ascendency 
over  them,  and  on  the  same  instant 
to  shake  off  the  thouglit  which  had 
come  to  him  as  the  last  and  sharp- 
est temptation  in  the  wilderness,  he 
uttered  the  strong  words, 
Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan] 
The  wonl  satmi  means  adversriry  ov 
seducer,  and  is  undoubtedly  applied 
here  to  Peter,  Avho  for  the'  moment 
iiad  put  himself  in  opposition  to  liis 
Master,  and  would  sc<hice  and  draw 
him  away  from  the  path  of  humili- 
ation and  sorrow  which  he  had 
chosen.  for  thou  savor- 

est not   the  things  that  be  of 


God,  but  the  things  that  be 
of  men]  snvorest,  to  have  the  mind 
and  heart  fixed  u/wn.  Your  mind 
is  fixed  on  things  earthly  and 
human,  not  on  those  which  are 
heavenly  and  divine.  Therefore, 
you  cannot  take  in  the  tnxe  mean- 
ing of  my  words.  We  must  remem- 
ber, that  all  this  while  the  disciples 
are  as  a  school,  exercised  and  dis- 
ciplitied  under  the  various  train- 
ing of  their  Master.  After  this  pri- 
vate remonstrance  with  Peter,  and 
through  him  with  his  companions, 
in  order  to  make  a  still  deeper  im- 
pression upon  them,  he  called  the 
people  to  him  (Mark  viii.  34),  and 
in  their  presence  laid  down  still 
more  strongly  the  doctrine  of  self- 
denial  and  self-sacrifice,  which  he 
has  already  taught  (Matt.  x.  37-39) 
with  such  distinctness  and  force. 
24,  25.  These  two  verses 
are  but  carrying  out,  in  its  applica- 
tion to  all  ills  followers,  the  great 
idea  which  he  Avas  to  exemplify  in 
his  life  and  death,  and  Avhich  he 
has  just  now  severely  remonstrated 
Avith  Peter  for  refusing  to  accept. 
It  is  impossible  for  us  to  understand 
how  appalling  to  the  Jews  this 
image  of  the  cross  must  have  been. 
It  was  not  their  mode  of  punish- 
ment. It  was  introduced  by  the 
Romans  as  an  instrument  of  cruelty 
and  oppression,  too  shameful  and 
too  dreadful  to  be  used  among  their 
own  citizens,  and  to  be  inflicted  on 
the  lowest  criminals  and  strangers. 
'■'■  We  can  hardly  feel,"  says  Mr. 
Norton,  "■  the  impression  which  it 
nuist  have  made  upon  those  to 
whom  the  horrible  torture  of  cruci- 
fixion, as  inflicted  upon  the  most 
wretched  outcasts  of  society,  was 
not  an  uncommon  spectacle."  It 
Avas  comiected  in  their  mind  with 
all  that  was  hateful  and  unjust  in 
a  foi'eign  domination  ;  and  nothing 


MATTHEW   XVI. 


301 


25  follow  me.     For  whosoever  will  save  his  life  shall  lose  it ;  and 

26  whosoever  will  lose  his  life,  for  my  sake,  shall  find  it.     For 
what  is  a  man  profited,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world,  and 


could  be  more  abhoiTent  to  all  their 
most  cherished  convictions  than 
that  their  ^Messiah,  Avho  was  to 
break  every  yoke  and  free  them 
from  foreign  rule,  should  himself  be 
subjected  to  this  vilest  and  most 
painful  of  deaths,  and  that  he 
should  hold  up  this  to  his  followers 
as  what  they  also  must  be  ready  to 
endure  in  their  devotion  to  him. 
Nothing  shows  more  powerfully  the 
personal  and  moral  ascendency  of 
Jesus  over  those  around  him,  than 
the  fact  that,  with  such  images  of 
reward  as  this,  he  could  still  bind 
them  to  him.  25.  Whoso- 

ever Avill  save  his  life]  We 
have  ah-eady  (Matt.  x.  39)  com- 
mented on  this  passage.  The  woixls 
are  repeated  here  with  a  slight 
alteration,  and  bearing  with  a 
mighty  pressure  on  what  he  has 
already  foretold  respecting  his  own 
fate.  The  meaning  of  the  Avord 
■v/zuX"?)  which  is  translated  life  here, 
ancl  soul  in  the  next  verse,  is  to  be 
borne  in  mind.  There  is  in  the 
Greek,  as  also  in  the  Syriac,  a  nice 
distinction  Avhich  is  lost  in  our  Eng- 
lish version.  "  Whosoever  may 
■wish  [iav  BiKrf]  to  save  his  life 
[  soul  ]  shall  lose  it ;  and  whosoever 
will  lose  his  life  [  soul  ]  for  my  sake 
shall  find  it."  It  is  not,  he  icho  may 
icish  to  lose  Jm  life  for  his  sake  :  he 
does  not  require  that  of  us.  He 
only  requires  that  we  shall  not 
■wish  to  save  it  at  the  expense  of 
what  is  better  than  life.  He  has 
spoken  of  the  cross.  He  now  speaks 
of  the  life  Avhich  may  be  lost  upon 
it;  but  in  the  same  sciitence  uses 
the  same  word  to  designate  the  life 
which  makes  that  earthly,  mortal 
life  of  no  account.  26. 

For  Avhat  is  a  man  profited] 
Literally,  ''  What  shall  a  man  be 
profited',"  &c.  There  are  those  who 
translate  psyche  here  by  the  woi'd 
life,  because  it  is  the  same  Avord 
tliat  is  so  rendered  in  the  previous 
vei-se.  But  this  does  not  convey  the 
26 


true  meaning  so  Avell  as  our  com- 
mon version.     We    must    think   of 
him   Avlio   spoke,   and  Avho  by  his 
spiritual  perceptions   i-eaching  into 
higher  Avorlds,  saAv  the  soul  saved 
by  that  Avhich  seemed  to  destroy  it, 
aiid   lost  by  that  Avhich  to  mortal 
eyes  seemed  to  saA-e  it.     And  Avheu 
the  soul  is  lost  everything  is  lost  ; 
for  "  Avhat  shall  a  man  be  profited 
if  he  gain  the  Avhole  world  and  lose 
his  own  soul  ?  or  Avhat  shall  a  man 
give   in  exchange    for  his  soulV" 
There   is  no  more   impressiA-e  and 
aAvful  passage  in  the  sacred  Avrit- 
ings,  and  fcAV  Avhich  are  more  per- 
fectly rendered  in  our  English  ver- 
sion.    Verbal  comments  upon  it  are 
poor  and  small.     They  Avho  Avould 
force  it   into  a  proof-text  for    the 
doctrine  of  everlasting   damnation, 
and  they  avIio  Avould  explain  it  away 
as  referring  to  nothing  beyond  this 
Avorld,  shoAV  thenxselves  alike  insen- 
sible to  its  poAver.     Its  solemn  find 
dreadful  appeal  should  come  home 
to  every  soul  that  is   in  danger  of 
Avasting   its    immortal   enei-gies   on 
the  things  of  time,  or  of  giving  to 
them  more  of  its  aftections  than  is 
consistent   Avith    its   highest    good. 
A  very  striking   illustration  of  the 
manner  in  Avhich  a  man  may  ruin 
his  soul  in  this  Avorld,  and  have  no 
suspicion    of   the    Avoi'k    of   death 
Avhich  is   going  on  Avithin  the  fair 
and  prosperous  exterior  of  his  life, 
is  giA'en  by  Archbishop  Wliately  in 
his  Annotations   on    Loi'd    Bacon's 
Essays.     "  Most  pei-sons,"  he  says, 
"know    that    CA-ery    butterfly    (the 
Greek   name    for  which,   it   is   re- 
markable, signifies  the  same  also  as 
the   soul,  — psyche)   comes   from   a 
grub,   or    caterpillar ;    in  the  lan- 
guage of  naturalists,  called  a  laj-va. 
The    last    name    (Avhich    signifies 
literally  a  mask)  Avas  'introduced  by 
Linnajus,    because    the    caterpillar 
is  a  kind  of  outer  coA'cring,  or  dis- 

fuise  of  the  future  butterfly  Avithin. 
'or  it    has    been    ascertained    by 


302 


MATTHEW   XVI. 


lose  liis  own  soul  ?  or  what  shall  a  man  give  In  exchange  for 
his  soul  ?     For  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  the  glory  of  his  27 


curious  microscopic  examination, 
that  a  distinct  butterfly,  only  unde- 
veloped and  not  full  grown,' is  con- 
tained within  the  body  of  the  cater- 
pillar; that  this  latter  has  its  own 
organs  of  digestion,  respiration,  &c., 
suitable  to  its  Udtu  life,  quite  dis- 
tinct from,  and  independent  of,  the 
future  butterfly  which  it  encloses. 
When  the  proper  period  arrives,  and 
the  life  of  the  insect,  in  this  its  first 
stage,  is  to  close,  it  becomes  what 
is  called  a  jmpa,  enclosed  in  a  crys- 
alis  or  cocoon  (often  composed  of 
silk,  as  is  that  of  the  silk-worm 
which  supplies  us  that  important 
article),  and  lies  torpid  for  a  time 
within  its  natural  coffin,  from  which 
it  issues,  at  the  proper  period,  as  a 
perfect  butterfly.  But  sometimes 
this  process  is  maiTcd.  There  is  a 
numerous  tribe  of  insects,  well 
known  to  naturalists,  called  ich- 
neumon-flies, which  in  their  larva 
state  are  parasitical ;  that  is,  in- 
habit and  feed  on  other  larviB,  The 
ichneumon-fly,  being  provided  with 
a  lo"ng,  sharp  sting,  which  is  in  fact 
an  ovipositor  (egg-layer),  pierces 
with  this  the  body  of  a  caterpillar 
in  several  places,  and  deposits  her 
eggs,  which  are  there  hatched,  and 
feed  as  grubs  (larvai)  on  the  inward 
parts  of  their  victim.  A  most  won- 
derful circumstance  connected  with 
this  process  is,  that  a  caterpillar 
that  has  been  thus  attacked  goes 
on  feeding,  and  apparently  thriving 
quite  as  well,  during  the  whole  of 
its  larva-life,  as  those  that  have 
escaped.  For,  by  a  wonderful  pro- 
vision of  instinct,  the  ichneumon- 
grubs  within  do  not  injure  any  of 
the  organs  of  the  larva,  but  feed 
only  on  the  future  butterfly  enclosed 
within  it.  And  consequently,  it  is 
hardly  possible  to  distinguish  a 
caterpillar  which  has  these  enemies 
Avithin  it  from  those  that  are  un- 
touched. But  when  the  period  ar- 
rives for  the  close  of  the  larva-life, 
the  difference  appears.  You  may 
often  observe  the  common  cabbage 
caterpillars  retiring,  to  undergo 
their  change,  to  some  sheltered 
spot,  —  such  as  the  walls  of  a  sum- 


mer-house ;  and  some  of  them  — 
those  that  have  escaped  the  para- 
sites (the  other  grubs  which  are 
injured  sometimes  do  the  same) 
—  assuming  the  pupa-state,  from 
which  they  emerge,  butterflies.  Of 
the  unfortunate  caterpillar  that  has 
been  preyed  upon,  nothing  remains 
but  an  empty  skin.  The  '  hidden 
buttei-fly  has  been  secretly  con- 
sumed. Now  is  there  not  some- 
thing analogous  to  this  wonderful 
phenomenon  in  the  condition  of 
some  of  our  race  ?  May  not  a  man 
have  a  kind  of  secret  enemy  with- 
in his  own  bosom,  destroying  his 
soul, />«?/( /;c', —  though  without  in- 
terfering with  his  well-being  during 
the  present  stage  of  his  existence  ; 
and  whose  presence  may  never  be 
detected  till  the  time  arrives  when 
the  last  yitat  change  should  take 
place?"  27.  For  the  8on 

of  man  shall  come]  l"or  this 
world  is  not  all.  This  mortal  life 
is  nothing  compared  with  that 
which  rises  over  it.  It  is  worthy  of 
notice  how  every  sentence  here,  in 
verses  25,  26,  27,  is  introduced  by 
aybr,  each  one  taking  us  up  yet 
farther  into  the  height  of  its  sub- 
lime argument.  "  If  any  one  wishes 
to  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  him- 
self, and  take  up  his  cross  and  fol- 
low me;"  "for  he  who  wishes  to 
save  his  life  shall  lose  it  ; "  and 
then  everything  is  gone,  "/<>/•  what 
shall  a  man  be  profited,  if  he  gain 
the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  own 
soul  ?  "  '■'lor  the  Son  of  man  shall 
come  in  the  glory  of  his  Father, 
Avith  his  angels,  and  then-  shall  he 
rewai-d  ever}'  man  according  to 
his  works."  What  a  contrast  this 
closing  picture  of  the  Son  of  man 
coming  in  the  g\ov\  of  his  Father, 
with  that  in  verse  21,  of  his  sufler- 
ing  and  dying  at  the  hands  of  wick- 
ed men !  '  How  are  we  lifted  up  by 
his  words  above  all  earthly  con- 
siderations of  gain  or  loss,  as  we 
see  him  rising  through  the  same 
path  of  humiliation  and  suffering 
and  death,  which  he  assigns  to  his 
followers,  and  coining  with  his  an- 
gels to  reward  every  man  acco.-l- 


MATTHEW    XVI. 


303 


Father,  with  his  angels ;  and  then  he  shall  reward  every  man 
28  according  to  his  works.     Verily  I  say  unto  you,  there  be  some 


ing  to  his  works !  accord- 

ing to  his  works]  Literally, 
according  to  his  doiiiy.  Works,  per- 
haps, give  us  too  superficial  an  idea 
of  the  doing  or  working  which  begins 
in  the  soul  of  a  man,  —  his  inmost 
life,  —  and  reaches  out  through  all 
his  deeds.  28.  there 

be  some  standing  here  which 
shall  not  taste  of  death,  till] 
Thus  far  every  sentence  in  this  dis- 
course has  been  closely  and  logically 
connected  with  that  which  went  be- 
fore. We  have  been  taken  through 
the  scene  of  our  probation  here,  to 
that  of  our  retribution  hereafter. 
But  in  this  sentence  there  is  a  sud- 
den, and  apparently  abrupt  change 
from  one  great  subject  to  another. 
These  apparently  violent  transitions 
are  not  uncommon  in  our  Saviour's 
discourses.  But  if  we  could  place 
ourselves  at  his  point  of  vision,  we 
should  see  how  natui-al  and  easy 
the  transition  is.  The  central  prin- 
ciples of  a  great  thought  connect 
together  topics  which,  to  a  super- 
ficial eye,  seem  to  have  no  relation 
to  one  another.  In  order  to  under- 
stand the  transition,  we  must  not 
only  learn,  but  make  ourselves  fa- 
miliar with,  the  different  applica- 
tions of  the  expression,  the  kingdom 
of  Heaven,  and  of  the  similar  ex- 
pression, the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
man.  The  kingdom  of  Heaven  is 
the  religion  of  .f^sus  in  the  indi- 
vidual soul,  or  in  the  community  of 
believers  called  the  Church,  —  first 
on  earth,  and  then  in  the  heavens. 
When  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  or  the 
religion  of  Jesus,  with  its  divine 
truths  and  agencies,  comes  to  any 
one,  and  is  received  by  him,  it  is  to 
him  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man 
in  his  kingdom.  When  the  religion 
of  .Jesus,  or  the  kingdom  of  God, 
finds  its  more  perfect  consummation 
in  him  on  his  leaving  this  world  and 
entering  into  a  higher  condition  of 
being,  it  is  to  him  the  coming  of 
the  Son  of  man  in  the  glory  of  his 
Father  with  his  angels,  who  are 
then  first  revealed  to  his  spiritual 


perceptions.  So  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven,  or  the  religion  of  Jesus, 
may  be  viewed,  on  a  larger  scale, 
in  its  relation  to  the  human  family. 
When  it  took  the  place  of  the  old 
Mosaic  dispensation,  as  it  did  at  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
dispersion  of  the  Jews,  and  was  left 
free  to  unfold  its  powers  and  estab- 
lish itself  in  the  earth,  that  was,  in 
a  peculiar  sense,  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of  man  in  his  kingdom,  to  the 
earth.  And  when,  through  succes- 
sive ages,  the  Avhole  work  of  re- 
demption is  accomplished,  and  the 
whole  family  of  man  are  grouped 
together  in  thought,  and  placed 
before  the  eye  as  finishing  their 
earthly  course,  and  entering  on  a 
iurther  stage  of  existence,  then,  in 
reference  to  them,  the  Son  of  man 
is  said  to  come  in  the  glory  of  his 
Father,  and  all  the  holy  angels 
with  him.  Whether  by  his  coming 
we  are  to  understand  his  personal 
presence  in  these  different  ways,  or 
only  that  he  should  be  present  in 
his  religion,  his  spirit,  and  his  teach- 
ings, Avhich  should  be,  like  his  dis- 
ciples, his  representatives  among 
men,  is  not  distinctly  taught.  We 
believe  that  he  meant  to  intiinate 
his  actual  and  personal  presence  in 
his  religion  and  his  Church  with  his 
followers  on  earth  and  in  Heaven. 
We  know  too  little  of  the  power 
which  a  spiritual  being  like  Christ 
may  have  of  diffusing  and  extend- 
ing'his  personal  and  conscious  pres- 
ence, to  oppose  these  views  by  ob- 
jections of  this  sort,  which  cany 
no  reasonable  weight  with  them. 
Now,  if  it  be  not  presumptuous  in 
us  so  to  speak,  drawing  our  infer- 
ences not  from  any  data  of  ours, 
but  from  the  forms  of  expression 
which  he  has  used,  we  may  sup- 
pose that  the  mind  of  Jesus,  equally 
at  home  in  all  these  developments 
of  his  religion,  or  different  forms  of 
his  coming,  connects  them  all  to- 
gether as  parts  of  one  great  plan, 
and  passes  easily  from  one  to  an- 
other.   In  asking  what  a  man  could 


304 


MATTHEW   XVI. 


standing  here  which  shall  not  taste  of  death,  till  they  see  the 
Son  of  man  coming  in  his  kinfrdom. 


give  in  exchange  for  his  soul,  he 
follows  him  beyond  this  mortal  life, 
and  speaks  of  meeting  him  there  to 
reward  him  according  to  his  works. 
Then  pausing  a  little,  and  thinking 
of  the  time  when  the  Jewish  nation 
shall  be  dispersed,  their  city  and 
altars  overthrown,  and  his  own  re- 
ligion take  the  place  of  the  ancient 
worship  ;  and  seeing  around  him 
some  who  shall  outlive  the  bloody 
changes  by  which  his  kingdom  is 
thus  to  be  estalilished  on  the  earth, 
he,  in  vei-se  28,  gives  xitterance  to 
this  other  thought,  ''  Verily  I  say 
unto  you,  There  be  some  standing 
here   who  shall  not  taste  of  death, 


till  they  see  the  Son  of  man  coming 
[not  in  the  glory  of  his  Father  with 
his  angels,  but:]  in  his  kingdom." 
This  is  the  same  coming  of  the  Son 
of  man  as  that  referred  to  in  ^Jatt. 
X.  23.  In  these  sudden  transitions 
from  one  theme  to  another,  we  must 
remember  that  the  Evangelists  do 
not  give  all  the  words  that  Jesus 
spoke,  but  only  the  salient  points, 
often  leaving  the  connecting  and 
explanatory  clauses  and  events 
■wholly  out  of  sight.  The  events 
related  in  this  chapter  may  have 
extended  through  several  weeks, 
and  must  have  occupied  a  number 
of  days. 


MATTHEW   XVII.    1-9.  305 


CHAPTER     XYII. 

1-9.  —  The  Transfiguration. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  in  regard  to  the  place 
where  this  remarkable  event  occurred.  Traditions  reach- 
ing back  nearly  to  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  have 
fixed  on  Mount  Tabor  as  the  spot.  It  is  thus  referred 
to  before  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  by  Cyril  of  Jeru- 
salem, and  by  St.  Jerome  who  resided  in  Palestine.  A 
little  more  than  two  hundred  years  later,  mention  is  made  of 
it  by  Antoninus.  Martyr  speaks  of  three  churches  erected  on 
Mount  Tabor,  corresponding  to  the  three  tabernacles  which 
Peter  proposed  to  erect.  But,  as  Dr.  Robinson  in  his 
Biblical  Researches,  Vol.  III.  pp.  220,  221,  has  shown, 
from  an  early  date,  and  down  to  the  time  of  Josephus,  the 
summit  of  Mount  Tabor  was  occupied  by  a  fortified  city. 
It  could  not  therefore  have  been  the  "  high  mountain " 
here  mentioned  by  the  Evangelists.  Dr.  Robinson  sup- 
poses that  the  "  Mount  of  Transfiguration  is  rather  to  be 
sought  somewhere  around  the  northern  part  of  the  lake, 
not  very  far  from  Ciesarea  Philippi,  where  there  are  cer- 
tainly mountains  enough." 

The  last  locality  that  has  been  mentioned  in  the  Gospel 
narrative,  xvi.  13,  is  Coesarea  Philippi.  Jesus  had  gone 
up  from  Bethsaida  at  the  northeast  corner  of  the  lake 
to  the  village  of  Caesarea,  which  was  at  the  eastern  source 
of  the  Jordan,  and  near  the  foot  of  Mount  Hermon.  Six 
days  after  the  conversation  recorded  as  having  taken  place 
in  that  locality,  occurred  the  scene  of  the  Transfiguration. 
Those  few  days  may  have  been  spent  by  Jesus  partly 
in  the  villages  instructing  the  people  and  healing  their 
sick,  and  partly  in  private  and  confidential  intercourse 
26* 


306  MATTHEW   XVII.    1-9. 

with  his  disciples  amid  the  solitudes  of  the  mountains. 
This  was  the  extreme  northern  limit  of  his  ministry.  At 
leno-th,  the  time  having  now  come  when  he  must  set  his 
face  for  the  last  time  towards  Jerusalem,  wishing  to  make 
on  the  minds  of  the  leading  disciples  an  impression  which 
could  never  be  effaced,  and  seeking  also,  as  he  often  did 
before  his  heaviest  trials,  for  the  inward  supports  which 
came  from  retirement  and  prayer,  he  took  Peter  and 
James  and  John,  and  went  up  into  a  high  mountain  to 
pray.  May  not  this  mountain  have  been  Mount  Hermon  ? 
Stanley,  in  his  Sinai  and  Palestine,  pp.  391,  392,  says:  "  It 
is  impossible  to  look  up  from  the  plain  to  the  towering 
peaks  of  Hermon,  almost  the  only  mountain  which  de- 
serves the  name  in  Palestine,  and  one  of  whose  ancient 
titles  was  derived  from  this  circumstance,  and  not  be 
struck  with  its  appropriateness  to  the  scene.  That  magnifi- 
cent height  —  mingling  with  all  the  views  of  Northern 
Palestine  from  Shechem  upwards  —  though  often  alluded 
to  as  the  northern  barrier  of  the  Holy  Land,  is  connected 
with  no  historical  event  in  the  Old  or  New  Testament. 
Yet  this  fact  of  its  rising  high  above  all  the  other  hills 
of  Palestine,  and  of  its  setting  the  last  limit  to  the  wander- 
ings of  Him  who  was  sent  only  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
house  of  Israel,  falls  in  with  the  supposition  which  the 
words  inevitably  force  upon  us.  High  up  on  its  southern 
slopes  there  must  be  many  a  point  where  the  disciples 
could  be  taken  '  apart  by  themselves.'  Even  the  transient 
comparison  of  the  celestial  splendor  with  the  snow,  where 
alone  it  could  be  seen  in  Palestine,  should  not,  perhaps, 
be  wholly  overlooked.  At  any  rate,  the  remote  heights 
above  the  sources  of  the  Jordan  witnessed  the  moment, 
when,  his  work  in  his  own  peculiar  sphere  being  ended, 
he  set  his  face  for  the  last  time  '  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem.' " 

But  how  are  we  to  interpret  the  account  of  the  Trans- 
figuration itself?  Dr.  Furness  entitles  it,  "The  Dream 
of  Peter."     In  his  History  of  Jesus,  p.  155,  he  supposes 


MATTHEW    XVII.    1-9.  307 

that  Peter,  after  a  time  of  great  mental  excitement,  falling 
asleep,  "  began  to  dream  ;  and  in  the  visions  of  his  sleep, 
his  eyes  having  closed,  perhaps,  while  fixed  on  the  venerated 
form  of  his  Master,  and  his  mind  being  filled  with  the  idea 
of  the  Messiah's  glory,  he  still  saw  Jesus  ;  but  now  all 
arrayed  in  robes  of  dazzling  whiteness,  in  all  tliat  ex- 
ternal glory  associated  with  the  person  of  the  Messiah. 
And  there  appeared  also  to  Peter,  in  his  dream,  two 
others,  who,  he  thought,  were  Moses  and  Elias  ;  and  they 
conversed  with  Jesus  about  what  was  to  take  place,  —  that 
mysterious  decease  at  Jerusalem.  While  he  was  thus  dream- 
ing, a  cloud  came  up,  and  it  thundered  ;  and  the  sound, 
startling  the  dreamer  from  his  sleep,  was  instantly  con- 
nected, as  is  not  uncommon  in  dreams,  with  an  articulate 
voice,"  &c.,  &c. 

Dr.  Palfrey  regards  it  rather  as  a  visionary  repre- 
sentation given  for  the  encouragement  of  the  disciples.  In 
his  relation  between  Judaism  and  Christianity,  pp.  92,  93, 
he  says :  "  It  was  fit  that  they  should  be  instructed  and 
reawakened  by  a  glorious  vision,  presenting  to  them  their 
Master,  not  with  the  environments  of  regal  pomp,  but  as 
the  equal  associate  of  the  venerated  ancient  teachers  of 
their  faith.  And  such  being  the  case,  I  understand  further, 
that  the  presence  of  Moses  and  Elijah  was  visionary,  and 
not  real ;  that  it  was  not  Moses  and  Elijah  actually  con- 
versing with  Jesus  that  the  Apostles  saw,  but  that  a  vision 
of  such  a  scene  was  presented  to  their  view." 

Neander,  in  his  Life  of  Jesus,  though  he  rather  inclines 
to  regard  the  whole  as  an  objective  historical  event,  makes 
a  supposition  which  embraces  the  substance  of  these  two 
views.  The  disciples,  he  supposes,  were  deeply  impressed 
by  the  prayer  of  Jesus.  "  His  countenance  beamed  with 
radiance,  and  he  appeared  to  them  glorified  and  trans- 
figured with  celestial  light.  At  last,  worn  out  with  fatigue, 
they  fell  asleep ;  and  the  impressions  of  the  Saviour's  prayer 
and  of  their  conversation  with  him  were  reflected  in  a  vision 


308  MATTHEW    XVII.    1-9. 

thus :  Beside  him,  who  was  the  end  of  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets,  appeared  Moses  and  Elias  in  celestial  splen- 
dor ;  for  the  glory  that  streamed  forth  from  him  was 
reflected  back  upon  the  Law,  and  the  Prophets  foretold 
the  fate  that  awaited  him  at  Jerusalem.  In  the  mean 
time  they  awoke,  and,  in  a  half-waking  condition,  saw 
and  heard  what  followed."  "Still,"  he  adds,  "the  diffi- 
culty remains,  that  the  phenomena,  if  simply  psychological, 
should  have  appeared  to  all  the  three  Apostles  precisely 
in  the  same  form.  It  is,  perhaps,  not  improbable,  that 
the  account  came  from  the  lips  of  Peter,  who  is  the  promi- 
nent figure  in  the  narrative." 

The  more  carefully  we  examine  the  narratives  of  the 
different  Evangelists,  the  greater  does  the  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  these  views  appear.  In  the  first  place,  the  ac- 
count is  given  by  each  of  the  three  Evangelists  with  no 
word  to  indicate  that  it  is  not  a  narrative  of  real  events. 
Jesus,  with  his  three  most  intimate  disciples,  went  up 
into  a  high  mountain  by  themselves  to  pray.  And  while 
praying  he  was  transfigured  before  them.  His  counte- 
nance was  changed,  shining  as  the  sun,  and  his  garments 
were  white  as  the  light,  or,  as  Mark  says,  "exceeding 
white,  like  snow,  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth  could  whiten 
them."  And  Luke  speaks  of  their  overpowering  bright- 
ness as  of  lightning  flashes.  And  behold  there  w^ere  two 
men  talking  with  him,  Moses  and  Elijah,  who  appeared 
to  them  in  glory,  and  who  spake  of  his  departure  which 
he  was  to  accomplish  at  Jerusalem.  Peter  and  those  who 
were  with  him  had  been  —  not  toere,  as  in  our  translation 
—  weighed  down  with  sleep.  But  when  they  were  fully 
awake  (Luke  ix.  32)  they  saw  his  glory,  and  the  two 
men  that  were  standing  with  him.  And  as  they  —  the 
two  men  —  were  departing  from  him,  Peter,  in  his  lear 
not  knowing  what  to  say,  said,  "  Lord,  it  is  good  for  us 
to  be  here  ;  let  us  make  here  three  tabernacles,  one  for 
thee,  one  for  Moses,  and  one  for  Elijah."    While  he  was 


MATTHEW    XVII.    1-9.  309 

yet  speaking,  a  shining  cloud ;  or,  according  to  Griesbach's 
reading,  a  cloud  of  light  overshadowed  them.  They  were 
filled  with  awe  as  they  entered  it.  And  there  came  from 
it  a  voice,  saying,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom 
I  am  well  pleased ;  hear  ye  him."  And  when  the  dis- 
ciples heard  it,  they  fell  upon  their  faces  and  Avere  ex- 
ceedingly afraid.  Then  Jesus  came  and  touched  them, 
and  said,  "  Rise,  be  not  afraid,"  when  they  raised  their 
eyes,  and  saw  Jesus  alone.  And  'as  they  were  going 
down  from  the  mountain,  Jesus  charged  them  saying,  "  Tell 
what  you  have  seen  to  no  one,  till  the  Son  of  man  has  risen 
from  the  dead."  "And  they  kept  it  to  themselves  (Mark 
ix.  10),  reasoning  together  what  the  rising  from  the  dead  was." 
The  particulars  of  the  transaction  are  given  with  minute- 
ness and  precision.  It  could  not  have  appeared  to  one 
only,  for  "Peter  and  they  w^ho  were  with  him"  (Luke 
ix.  32)  saw  his  glory  and  the  two  men  that  were  stand- 
ing with  him."  "And  when  the  disciples"  (not  07ie  of 
them)  "  heard,"  &c.  they  fell  on  tkeir  face.  Nor  could  it 
have  been  a  dream ;  for,  apart  from  the  improbability 
of  the  same  dream  occurring  to  them  all,  Luke  says  ex- 
pressly, that,  though  they  had  been  heavy  with  sleep,  they 
now  ivhe7i  fully  awake  saw  his  glory,  &c.  Neither  could 
it  have  been  merely  a  vision  ;  for  they  not  only  saw  Moses 
and  Elijah,  but  also  heard  wdiat  they  said,  and  the  sub- 
ject of  their  conversation  is  reported  to  us :  "  They  spake 
of  his  departure,"  &c.  What  the  disciples  heard  from  the 
cloud  is  also  precisely  reported.  Besides,  if  the  whole 
matter  had  been  only  a  dream,  or  a  scene  only  subjec- 
tively present  to  their  minds,  if  "  the  presence  of  Moses 
and  Elias  w^as  visionary  and  not  real,"  why  should  it 
occupy  the  conspicuous  and  significant  place  it  does  in 
three  of  the  Gospels  ?  Still  more,  if  "  only  a  vision  of 
such  a  scene  was  presented  to  their  view,  how  was  it 
possible  that  Jesus  could  attach  so  much  importance  to  it 
as  he  did  in  charging  the  disciples  to  tell  no  one  of  it 


310  MATTHEW  XVII.    1-9. 

till  after  he  had  risen  from  the  dead?  Among  the  in- 
cidental indications  of  truthfulness  in  the  narratives  them- 
selves, are  the  words  in  Mark,  — "  they  reasoned  among 
themselves  what  the  rising  from  the  dead  should  mean." 
How  natural  that  they  should  thus  reason  together,  and 
yet  who,  writing  long  after  the  event,  and  when  the  resur- 
rection from  the  dead  had  become  a  common  idea,  could 
have  thought  to  mention  it  unless  it  were  a  fact? 

The  only  objection  to  receiving  these  accounts  as  faithful 
historical  narratives  arises  frona  the  character  of  the  facts 
themselves.  They  do  not  fall  within  the  sphere  of  our 
common  thought  and  experience.  But  one  great  object 
of  Christ's  coming  into  the  world  was  to  enlarge  the  sphere 
of  our  conceptions,  to  free  us  from  the  narrow,  blinding, 
and  despotic  dominion  of  the  senses,  and  open  to  us  a 
glimpse  at  least  of  the  great  and  spiritual  realities  by 
which  we  are  environed.  The  disciples  could  not  be 
reconciled  to  the  idea  of  a  suffering  and  crucified  Messiah. 
They  were  perplexed  and  filled  with  grief  by  what  Jesus 
had  told  them  of  his  approaching  death.  Here  for  a 
moment  the  chosen  three  were  allowed,  with  their  quick- 
ened perceptions,  to  look  through  the  veil,  to  see  the 
glorified  forms  of  two  persons  who  had  passed  from  the 
earth  centuries  before,  and  to  hear  them  talk  with  Jesus 
of  his  departure  which  he  was  about  to  accomplish  at 
Jerusalem.  And  although  in  their  troubled  and  bewil- 
dered apprehension  they  did  not  then  understand  fully 
the  import  of  what  they  saw  and  heard,  yet  aftervvards 
they  remembered  it  with  a  new  perception  of  its  signifi- 
cance, and  recorded  it  for  the  instruction  of  those  who 
should  come  after  them.  (See  John  i.  14,  2  Peter  i. 
16-18.)  For  once,  as  an  emblem  to  all  times,  of  the 
DiAnne  glory  in  which  he  lived,  the  spirit  of  Jesus  shone 
through  and  irradiated  its  mortal  covering,  lighting  up 
his  countenance  till  it  was  like  the  sun,  and  his  very 
garments  were,  like   the   lightning,  of  a  dazzling   bright- 


MATTHEW   XVII.    1-9.  ol3 

ness,  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth  could  whiten  them.  In  asso- 
ciating with  him  Moses  and  Elijah  in  their  glorified  forms, 
the  Transfiguration  furnishes  a  connecting  link  between 
two  worlds.  By  these  visible  images  of  the  departed  it 
helps  us  in  our  conceptions  of  a  spiritual  and  immortal 
condition,  and  enables  us  in  our  thought  to  people  with 
bright  and  living  forms  the  otherwise  void  and  shadowy 
regions  of  the  dead.  Not  only  is  Christ  transfigured,  and 
Moses  and  Elijah  made  visible,  but  a  whole  world  of 
spiritual  thought  and  life  is  revealed  as  filled,  not  merely 
with  the  one  infinite  intelligence,  but  with  the  tender 
sympathies  and  affections  which  drew  those  ancient  bene- 
factors of  mankind  to  talk  with  Jesus  when  the  time  of 
£is  heaviest  sorrows  was  at  hand. 

The  place  which  this  event  holds  in  the  Gospel  narra- 
tive is  not  without  its  significance.  Jesus  had  been  speak- 
ing of  his  approaching  death  and  of  the  entire  self-renuncia- 
tion which  he  required  of  his  followers.  They  could  not 
understand  him.  He  led  them  away  therefore  by  them- 
selves. Leaving  the  populous  places  about  Caesarea  Philip- 
pi,  he  probably  took  them  into  the  mountain  solitudes,  and 
during  a  period  of  six  days  was  imparting  to  them  there 
instructions,  of  which  no  record  has  come  down  to  us. 
Then,  as  a  teacher  sometimes  does  with  the  most  ad- 
vanced of  his  class,  he  chose  out  three  of  his  disciples 
to  impress  on  them  a  lesson  which  they  alone  were  at 
all  prepared  to  receive.  He  leads  them  up  into  a  high 
mountain,  and,  while  he  is  praying,  his  countenance  glows 
with  a  celestial  radiance,  spirits  of  just  men  made  per- 
fect stand  by  him,  and  a  voice  is  heard  speaking  to  them 
from  heaven.  They  did  not  fully  understand  it  then,  but 
after  his  death  and  resurrection  from  the  dead  had  laid 
open  to  them  its  meaning,  they  publish  their  account  of 
it  to  enrich  forever  the  minds  of  Christian  believers. 

"  The  design  of  this  miracle,"  says  Mr.  Norton,  "  appears 
to  have  been,  —  1.  By  a  scene  which  should  make  the  most 


310  ^  MATTHEW   XVII.    10-13. 

"powerfyli  impression  on  the  senses  and  the  imagination,  — 
a  V;^n  from  heaven'  such  as  the  Pharisees  had  demanded, 
—  to  produce  in  the  minds  of  the  three  leading  Apostles 
who  were  present  with  Jesus  the  strongest  conviction  of 
his  Divine  mission,  and  to  prepare  them,  as  far  as  possible, 
for  the  overwhelming  disappointment  of  their  cherished 
hopes  in  his  approaching  death ;  2.  To  show  them  that 
a  close  relation  existed  between  himself  and  those  earlier 
messengers  of  God  whom  they,  held  in  peculiar  reverence, 
Moses,  the  founder,  and  Elijah,  the  restorer  of  their  an- 
cient religion,  who  had  prepared  the  way  for  him  who 
'  came  not  to  annul  the  law  and  the  prophets,  but  to  per- 
fect;' 3.  To  give  the  disciples  direct  and  palpable  evi- 
dence of  the  reality  of  a  future  life." 

10-13.  —  The  Coming  of  Elijah. 

"  II;  would,"  says  Lightfoot  in  his  note  on  this  passage, 
"  be  an  infinite  task  to  produce  all  the  passages  out  of 
the  Jewish  writings,  which  one  might,  concerning  the  ex- 
pected coming  of  Elias."  The  following,  given  here  in  a 
condensed  form,  is  among  the  passages  quoted  by  Light- 
foot  from  the  Jewish  writers.  "  God  shall  restore  the 
soul  of  Elias,  which  ascended  of  old  into  heaven,  into 
a  created  body  like  to  his  former  body,  and  shall  send 
him  to  Israel  before  the  day  of  judgment,  and  he  shall 
admonish  both  the  fathers  and  the  children  together,  to 
turn  to  God."  It  was  the  expectation  of  the  Jews  that 
at  the  coming  of  the  Messiah  there  should  be  a  resurrec- 
tion from  the  dead,  and  that  Elias  was  to  come  before 
the  resurrection.  When  Jesus,  therefore,  tells  the  dis- 
ciples to  say  nothing  about  what  they  had  seen  till  he 
had  risen  from  the  dead,  they  immediately  in  their  minds 
connect  this  rising  from  the  dead  with  the  expected  resur- 
rection, and  ask.  If  this  appearance  of  Elias  is  all,  and  we 
are  not  permitted  to  speak  of  it  till  after  the  resurrection, 


MATTHEW    XVII.    24-27.  313 

how  is  it  that  the  Scribes  say  that  Elias  must  come  first, 
i.  e.  before  the  resurrection  ?  Jesus  replies,  nearly  in 
the  words  of  Mai.  iv.  6,  "  Elias  is  coming,  and  will  re- 
store all  things,"  or  put  all  things  in  order.  He  merely 
repeats  this  passage  which  the  Jewish  teachers  were  ac- 
customed to  use,  to  show,  in  reply  to  the  disciples'  ques- 
tion, why  Elijah  was  expected  first.  Then  he  goes  on 
in  his  own  language  to  give  his  own  view,  which  is, 
that  the  prophecy  is  already  accomplished,  that  Elias  has 
already  come,  and  that  the  Jewish  teachers  who  had  made 
such  account  of  his  coming  did  not  recognize  him  while 
he  was  with  them,  but  did  to  him  what  they  chose,  and 
that  in  like  manner  the  Messiah,  the  Son  of  man,  would 
also  suffer  from  them.  "  Then  understood  they  that  he 
spake  of  John  the  Baptist."  Luke  (i.  17)  shows  in  what 
sense  Elias  was  to  come  :  "  And  he  (John)  shall  go  before 
him  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Elias." 

24-27.  —  The  Tribute-Money  and  the  Fish. 

The  tribute-money  was  not  paid  to  the  Roman  govern- 
ment, but  for  the  Jewish  and  temple  worship.  (See  Ex. 
XXX.  13,  2  Kings  xii.  4,  2  Chron.  xxiv.  6,  9.)  Jesus  in 
his  conversation  with  Peter  refers  to  his  peculiar  position 
as  the  Son  of  God,  so  as  to  impress  it  on  the  minds  of 
his  disciples.  "It  was  necessary  for  him,"  says  Mr. 
Norton,  "  to  direct  .their  thoughts  to  the  fact  of  his  and 
their  extraordinary  relation  to  God,  and  the  peculiarity 
in  his  manner  of  doing  it  upon  this  occasion  would  tend 
to  make  a  deeper  impression  on  their  minds  than  a  simple 
declaration  of  the  truth  might  have  done." 

We  agree  with  Olshausen  in  considering  this  the  most 
difficult  miracle  in  the  Gospels.  It,  more  than  any  other, 
has  an  air  of  marvellousness  about  it  such  as  we  find 
in  later  and  apocryphal  writings.  But  there  is  no  reason 
to  question  the  genuineness  of  the  passage.  There  is 
27 


314  MATTHEW   XVII. 

nothing  derogatory  to  the  Saviour's  character  in  the  per- 
formance of  such  an  act.  The  Gospels  are  intended  to 
meet  the  wants  of  all  classes  of  minds,  from  the  most 
ignorant  to  those  most  advanced  in  intellectual  and  moral 
culture.  That  which  is  needed  to  impress  the  ignorant 
may  seem  to  others  trivial  and  unworthy  of  a  Divine 
author,  while  that  which  is  the  most  striking  evidence 
of  a  Divine  authority  to  him  who  has  made  the  greatest 
advances  in  spiritual  improvement  may  be  wholly  without 
meaning  to  his  ignorant  neighbor.  This,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case,  may  have  been  the  most  effectual 
way  of  impressing  important  truths  on  the  mind  of  Peter. 
Peter  had  made  an  inconsiderate  promise.  May  it  not 
be  also  that  Jesus  took  that  opportunity  to  show  that  even  a 
hasty  promise,  if  it  involved  no  act  of  injustice  to  others, 
was  in  his  sight  so  sacred  that  a  miracle  was  to  be  per- 
formed, rather  than  that  a  disciple  of  his  should  fail  to 
keep  it?  Bengel  significantly  says,  "Men  who  are  occu- 
pied in  worldly  affairs  most  easily  take  offence  at  the 
saints  when  money  is  in  question." 


NOTES. 


And  after  six  days  Jesus  taketh  Peter,  James,  and  John  his 
brother,  and  bringeth  them  up  into  a  hio;h   mountain  apart, 
and  was  transfigured  before  them ;  and  his  face  did  shine  as  2 
the  sun,  and  his  raiment  was  white  as  the  light.     And,  behold,   3 
there  appeared  unto  them  Moses  and  Elias,  talking  with  him. 
Then  answered  Peter,  and  said  unto  Jesus,  Lord,  it  is  good  4 
for  us  to  be  here ;  if  thou  wilt,  let  us  make  here  three  taber- 
nacles; one  for  thee,  and  one  for  Moses,  and  one  for  Elias. 
Wliile  he   yet  spake,  behold,  a  bright   cloud   overshadowed  5 
them ;  and,  behold,  a  voice  out  of  the  cloud,  which  said.  This 

5.  a  voice  out  of  the  cloud]     chap.    iii.    17 ;    secondly,  at    this 
"A  voice  came  from  heaven,  first,     central  period  ;  thirdly,  and  lastly, 


MATTHEW    XVII. 


315 


is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased;  hear  ye  him. 

6  And  when  the  disciples  heard  it,  they  fell  on  their  face,  and 

7  were  sore  afraid.     And  Jesus  came  and  touched  them,  and 

8  said,  Arise,  and  be  not  afraid.     And  when  they  had  lifted  up 

9  their  eyes,  they  saw  no  man,  save  Jesus  only.  And  as  they 
came  down  from  the  mountain,  Jesus  charged  them,  saying, 
Tell  the  vision  to  no  man,  until  the  Son  of  man  be  risen  again 

10  from  the  dead. And  his  disciples  asked  him  saying,  Why 

11  then  say  the  scribes  that  Ellas  must  first  come  ?  And  Jesus 
answered  and  said  unto  them,  Ellas  truly  shall  first  come,  and 

12  restore  all  things ;  but  I  say  unto  you,  that  Ellas  is  come 
already,  and  they  knew  him  not,  but  have  done  unto  him  what- 


a  little  before  our  Lord's  Passion, 
John  xii.  28.  After  each  of  these 
voices  from  heaven,  fresh  virtue 
shone  forth  in  Jesus,  fresh  ardor  and 
fresh  sweetness  in  his  discourses  and 
actions,  fresh  progress."  Bengel. 
9.  the  vision]  "  What 
things  they  had  seen."  Mark  ix.  9. 
11.  Elias  truly  shall  first 
come,  and  restore  all  things] 
But  how  did  John  tlie  Baptht  restore 
all  things  f  ''  Seminal  iter,"  says 
Bengel,  i.  e.  "  he  will  sow  the  seed 
of  these  things  :  he  will  initiate 
them,  as  the  preparation  for  what  is 
to  follow."  12.  but  I  say 

unto  you,  that  Elias  is  come 
already]  "  With  the  jjre^chingof 
John  the  Baptist,  as  described  by 
the  Jewish  and  Gospel  writers,  and 
the  history  of  the  eventful  era  an- 
nounced by  him,  is  associated  the 
memorable  prophecy  in  Malachi  : 
'  Behold,  I  will  send  jny  messenger, 
and  he  shall  prepare  the  way  before 
me:  and  the  Lord,  whom  ye  seek, 
shall  suddenly  come  to  his  temple, 
and  the  messenger  of  the  covenant, 
whom  ye  deliglit  in  [or  wish  for]  : 
behold,  he  shall  come,  saith  the 
Lord  of  Hosts.  But  who  may  abide 
the  day  of  his  coming?  And  who 
shall  stand  when  he  appeareth  ? 
For  he  is  like  a  refiner's  fire,  and 
like  fuller's  soap  ;  and  he  shall  sit 
as  a  refiner  and  purifier  of  silver: 
and  he  shall  purify  the  sons  of  Levi, 
and  purge  them  as  gold  and  silver, 
that  they  may  offer  unto  the  Lord 
an  offering  in  righteousness.'      In 


his  denunciations  of  divine  retri- 
•  bution,  the  prophet  sets  forth  the 
prominent- sins  of  the  times  referred 
to  in  his  prediction,  and  it  will  be 
perceived  that  they  are  principally 
those  which  Christ  especially  no- 
ticed in  his  reprobation  of  the  de- 
genei-ate  people  of  his  day  :  '  I  will 
be  a  swift  witness  against  the  sorcer- 
ers, and  against  the  adulterers,  and 
against  false  swearers,  and  against 
those  that  oppress  the  hireling  in 
his  wages,  the  widow,  and  the  father- 
less, and  that  turn  aside  the  stranger 
from  his  right,  and  fear  not  me, 
saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.'  These 
words  find  a  correspondence  in 
those  bold  and  cutting  rebukes  in 
which  our  Lord  exposed  the  profli- 
gacy of  his  own  times,  and  which 
he  so  pointedly  directed  against 
adulterers,  and  those  who  betrayed 
others  into  adultery  by  their  false 
doctrines  of  divorcement, — against 
false  swearers  and  those  avIio  en- 
couraged fiilse  swearing  by  their 
absurd  distinctions  between  oaths, 
—  against  those  who  wronged  the 
ftitherless  and  the  Avidow,  and  who 
were  the  signal  objects  of  his  most 
solemn  denunciations. 

"  But  perhaps  no  portion  of  the 
prophecy  exhibits  more  striking 
coincidences  with  the  events  of 
the  Gospel  age  than  the  conclu- 
sion :  '  Behold,  the  day  cometh 
that  shall  burn  as  an  oven  ;  and 
all  the  proud,  yea,  and  all  that 
do  wickedly,  shall  be  stubble  ;  and 
the  day  that    cometh    shall    burn 


316 


MATTHEW    XVII. 


soever  they  listed.     Likewise  shall  also  the  Son  of  man  suffer 
of  them.     Then  the  disciples  understood  that  he  spake  unto  13 
them  of  John  the  Baptist. 

And  when  they  were  come  to  the  multitude,  there  came  to  14 
him  a  certain  man,  kneehng  down  to  him,  and  saying,  Lord,  15 
have  mercy  on  my  son ;  for  he  is  lunatic  and  sore  vexed ;  for 
ofttimes   he  falleth  into  the  fire,  and  oft  into  the  water.     And  I  16 
brought  him  to  thy  disciples,  and  they  could  not   cure   hun. 
Then  Jesus  answered  and  said,  O  faithless  and  perverse  gen-  n 


them  up,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts, 
that  it  shall  leave  them  neither  root 
nor  branch.  But  unto  you  that  fear 
my  name  shall  the  Sun  of  Right- 
eousness arise  with   healing  in  his 

-wings Behold,  I  will  send 

you  Elijah  the  prophet,  before  the 
coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful 
day  of  the  Lord ;  and  he  shall  turn 
the  heart  of  the  fathers  to  the  chil- 
dren, and  the  heart  of  the  children 
to  their  fathers,  lest  I  come  and 
smite  the  earth  with  a  curse ; ' —  or, 
in  other  words,  so  as  to  prevent,  if 
possible,  or  take  the  appropriate 
means  to  prevent,  the  infliction  of 
punishment  on  the  /anr/, —  not  earth., 
as  the  original,  not  only  here,  but 
often  elsewhere  also,  is  inappro- 
priately rendered  in  the  common 
version  of  the  Scriptures. 

"  When  this  prophecy  was  utter- 
ed, the  Jews  had  returned  from  that 
long  captivity  in  Babylon  to  Avhich 
the  predictions  of  national  judg- 
ments in  Ihe  Old  Testament  so  fre- 
quently refer.  But  the  spirit  of 
prophecy  foresaw  in  the  distant  fu- 
ture a  still  heavier  judgment  await- 
ing them  for  their  sins.  Such  a 
calamity  actually  befell  them  in  the 
Gospel '  age,  —  a  calamity  far  ex- 
ceeding any  they  had  ever  before 
experienced.  ^loreover,  not  many 
years  anterior  to  this  catastrophe,  a 
iremarkable  person,  styling  himself 
a  messenger  from  God,  and  who  au- 
thenticated his  commission  by  mira- 
cles, made  his  appearance  in  Judaea, 
preaching  everywhere  a  sublime 
system  of  piety  and  virtue,  severely 
reproving  the  people  for  their  im- 
moralities, and  denouncing  the  cor- 
ruption of   the  priesthood.      Thus 


was  it  foretold.  As  his  immediate 
precursor,  came  also  one  who  might 
be  termed  another  Elijah,  from  the 
strong  resemblance  he  bore  to  that 
stern  and  minatorv  prophet,  assail- 
ing the  vices  of  the  day  with  re- 
markable zeal  and  boldness,  and 
endeavoring  to  persuade  the  Jews  to 
a  general  reformation  as  the  only 
means  of  averting  an  impending 
destniction  which  would  prove,  he 
observed,  as  '  an  axe  laid  to  the 
roots  of  the  trees.'  A  personage 
eveiy  way  resembling  him  had  been 
announced  by  the  Messianic  proph- 
ets, and  our  Saviour  declared  that 
John  was  the  individual  foretold. 

"  Does  any  one  say  that  all  this 
is  certainly  quite  remai'kable,  but 
that  still  it  is  possible  that  John, 
notwithstanding  he  was  a  just  man, 
and  held  in  the  highest  reverence, 
might  haA-e  been  misled  by  an  ar- 
dent imagination  in  supposing  him- 
self the  Forerunner  predicted  V  One 
thing  is  plain.  The  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  shortly  after  his  day 
was  no  illusion  of  the  imagination. 
The  catastrophe  really  took  place, 
whatever  may  be  thought  of  its 
being  a  fulfilment  of  the  "judgment 
denounced  by  Malachi.  It  fol- 
lowed the  preaching  of  John,  pre- 
cisely as  it  had  been  predicted  that 
a  tremendous  calamity  to  Judaea 
Avould  follow  the  preaching  of  a 
prophet  whose  description  strikingly 
answers  to  that  of  the  Baptist.  An(i 
as  that  terrible  event  which  over- 
threw and  scattered  the  Jewish 
nation,  soon  after  the  time  of  the 
Forerunner,  was  no  matter  of  fancy, 
neither  could  any  imagination  have 
foreseen  it."    Nichols's  Hours  with 


MATTHEW    XVII. 


317 


eration  !  how  long  shall  I  be  with  you  ?  how  long  shall  I  suffer 

18  you  ?  Bring  him  hither  to  me.  And  Jesus  rebuls^d  the  devil, 
and  he  departed  out  of  him ;  and  the  child  was  cured  from 

19  that  very  hour. Then  came  the  disciples  to  Jesus  apart, 

20  and  said,  Why  could  not  we  cast  him  out  ?  And  Jesus  said 
unto  them,  Because  of  your  unbelief;  for  verily  I  say  unto 
you,  if  ye  have  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  ye  shall  say 
unto  this  mountain.  Remove  hence  to  yonder  place,  and  it 
shall   remove ;    and   nothing    shall   be   impossible   unto   you. 

21  Howbeit  this  kind  goeth  not  out,  but  by  prayer  and  fasting. 

22  And  while  they  abode  in  Galilee,  Jesus  said  unto  them.  The 

23  Son  of  man  shall  be  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  men ;  and  they 
shall  kill  him,  and  the  third  day  he  shall  be  raised  again.  And 
they  were  exceeding  sorry. 

24  And  when  they  were  come  to  Capernaum,  they  that  received 


the  Evangelists.    Vol.  I.   pp.  270- 
274.  14-21.  The  critical 

notice  of  this  miracle  belongs  more 
properly  to  Mark  ix.  14  -  29,  Avhere 
the  particulars  are  given  more  fully. 
17.  how  long  shall! 
be  wth  you  ?]  The  following  re- 
mark of  Beiigel  here  may  be  true, 
though  it  belongs  to  a  province 
in  -which  we  should  be  slow  to 
speculate.  "  He  was  in  haste  to 
return  to  the  Father  ;  yet  he  knew 
that  he  could  not  effect  his  de- 
parture until  he  had  conducted 
his  disciples  into  a  state  of  faith. 
Their  slowness  was  painful  to  him." 
Something  of  the  same  feeling  is 
shown  in  John  xiv.  9 :  "■  Have  I 
been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet 
hast  thou  not  known  me,  Philip?  " 
how  long  shall  I  sufler 
you  ?]  how  long  shall  I  put  up,  or 
bear,  with  you?  The  change  from 
the  Mountain  of  Transfigui-ation  to 
this  scene  of  miserj'-  and  unbelief 
was  very  great,  and  evidently  a  most 
trying  one  to  our  Saviour.  The 
very  susceptibilities  by  which  he 
was  capable  of  being  lifted  up  into 
such  a  height  of  joy  and  glory 
would  make  him  feel  more  pain- 
fully the  contrast  here.  How  natu- 
ral is  this  outburst  of  holy  impa- 
tience, and  yet  liow  different  from 
the  passionless  level  in  which  a 
writer  of  fiction  would  be  likely  to 
27* 


cause  so  exalted  a  being  as  Jesus  to 
move !  This  sudden  expression  of 
feeling  gives  a  most  A'aluable  insight 
into  tlie  life  of  Jesus  ;  and  while  it 
shows  how  strong  his  emotions 
Avere,  it  also  shows  that  liis  stnig- 
gle  against  temptation  was  not  con- 
fined to  the  wilderness.  "  Only  he 
can  speak  thus,"  says  Stier,  "  who, 
as  the  Holy  One  among  siiniers,  bore 
the  burden  of  all,  and  whose  whole 
life  was  in  the  innennost  sense,  from 
the  very  first,  a  profomid  suffering 
through  the  feeling  and  enduring  of 
sin.  Thus,  according  to  the  Father's 
counsel,  it  was  necessary  in  this 
word,  Avhich  Avas  drawn*  from  the 
usually  closed  depths  of  his  heart, 
immediately  after  the  revelation  of 
his  gloiy,  to  manifest  the  glory  also 
of  his  human  endurance,  the'  pain 
of  divine  love  in  his  human  nature, 
which  was  alike  strongly  suscepti- 
ble of  this  on  account  of  meekness 
and  purity.  If  we  had  not  this 
word,  and  that  other  in  Luke  xli.  50, 
we  should  want  the  true,  entire  in- 
sight into  the  self-denying,  atoning 
nature  even  of  his  whole  earthly 
course  in  our  flesh  and  blood.  What 
complainings,  known  only  to  the 
Father,  does  this  single  expression, 
Avhich  he  neither  can  nor  will  re- 
strain, presuppose? "  21. 
but  by  prayer  and  fasting]  by 
entire  devotion  to   God,  and  self' 


318 


MATTHEW    XVIT. 


tribute-money  came  to  Peter,  and  said,  Doth  not  your  Master 

25  pay  tribute  ?     He  saith,  Yes.     And  when  he  was  come  into 

the  house,  Jesus  prevented  him,  saying,  What  thinkest  thou, 


renunciation.  24.  tribute- 

moiiey]  ra  bibpaxfJ-a,  the  two- 
draduna,  a  sum  paid  annually  by 
the  Jews  of  twenty  years  old  and 
upwards  towards  the  Temple  in 
Jerusalem,  Exod.  xxx.  11  - 16  ;  2 
Kings  xii.  4;  2  Chron.  xxiv.  6-9. 
The  original  sum  was  half  a  shekel, 
which  was  not  a  coin,  but  a  certain 
weight  of  silver.  "  In  the  time  of 
the  Maccabees  (1  Mace.  xv.  6)  the 
Jews  received  the  privilege,  or 
won  the  right,  from  the  kings  of 
Syria  of  coining  their  own  money, 
and  the  shekels,  half-shekels,  and 
quar!^er-shekels,  now  found  in  the 
cabinets  of  collectors,  are  to  be  re- 
ferred to  this  period.  These  grow- 
ing scarce,  and  not  being  coined 
any  more,  it  became  the  custom  to 
estimate  the  temple  dues  as  two- 
drachms,  a  sum  actually  somewhat 
larger  than  the  half-shekel,  as  those 
who  have  compared  together  the 
weights  of  the  existing  specimens 
have  found."  As  the  produce  of 
the  miracle  was  to  pay  for  two  per- 
sons, the  sum  required  was  four 
drachmas,  or  a  whole  shekel  ;  and 
the  stater,  which  is  translated  jntce 
of  money,  in  verse  27,  is  just  that 
sum.  Josephus  (Ant.  XV'lII.  9.  1) 
speaks  of  this  as  an  annual  pay- 
ment in  his  time  ;  and  Philo,  also, 
"  who  tells  us  how  conscientiously 
and  ungrudgingly  it  was  paid  by 
the  Jews  of  the  Dispersion,  as  well 
as  by  the  Jews  of  Palestine,  so  that 
in  almost  every  city  there  was  a 
sacred  treasury  for  the  collection  of 
the^e  dues,  some  of  which  came 
from  cities  be}X)nd  the  limits  of  the 
Roman  empire."  Doth 

not  your  Master  pay  tribute? 
"  We  may  presume,"  says  Trench, 
"that  our  Lord  and  Peter,  with 
others  also,  it  is  most  probable,  of 
his  disciples,  were  now  returning  to 
Capernaum,  which  was  '  his  city,' 
Jifter  one  of  his  usual  absences. 
The  Lord  passed  forward  without 
question,  but  the  collectors  detained 
Peter,  who,  having  lingered  a  little 


behin/],  was  now  following  his  Lord. 
Chrysostom  siiggests  that  this  ques- 
tion [that  of  the  collectors  to  Peter] 
may  be  a  rude  and  ill-mannered  one : 
'  Does  your  Master  count  himself 
exempt'  from  the  payment  of  the 
ordinary  dues?  We  know  his  free- 
dom :  does  he  mean  to  exercise  it 
here '?  '  Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
may  have  been,  as  I  suppose  it  was, 
the  exact  contrary.  Having  seen 
or  heard  of  the  wonderful  Avorks 
Avhich  Christ  did,  they  may  really 
have  been  uncertain  in  what  light 
to  regard  him,  whether  to  claim 
from  him  the  money  or  not;  and  in 
this  doubting  and  inquiring  spirit, 
they  mav  have  put  the  question  to 
Peter.  I'his  Theophylact  suggests. 
But,  after  all,  we  want  that  which 
the  history  has  not  given,  the  tone  in 
which  the  question  was  put,  to  know 
whether  it  was  a  rude  one  or  the 
contrary.  To  their  demand  Peter, 
overhasty,  as  was  so  often  the  case, 
at  once"^  replied  that  his  Master 
would  pay  the  money.  No  doubt 
zeal  for  his  Master's  honor  made 
him  so  quick  to  pledge  his  Lord ;  he 
Avas  confident  that  his  piety  Avould 
make  him  prompt  to  every  payment 
sanctioned  and  sanctified  by' God's 
Law.  Yet  at  the  same  time  there 
was  hei'e,  on  the  part  of  the  apostle, 
a  failing  to  recognize  the  higher 
dignity  of  his  Lord:  it  was  not  in 
this  spirit  that  he  had  said  a  little 
while  before,  '  Thou  art  the  Christ, 
the  Son  of  the  living  God.'  He  im- 
derstood  not,  or  at  least  for  the  time 
had  lost  sight  of,  his  Lord's  true  po- 
sition and  dignity,  that  he  was  a  Son 
over  his  own  house,  not  a  servant 

in  another's  house It  was 

not  for  Him  who  was  '  greater  than 
the  temple,'  and  himself  the  tme 
temple  (John  ii.  21),  identical  with 
it  according  to  its  spiritual  signifi- 
cance, and  in  Avhom  the  Shekinah 
glory  dwelt,  to  pay  dues  for  the  sup- 
port of  that  other  temple  built  with 
liands,  Avhich  was  now  fast  losing 
its  significance,  since  the  true  taber- 


MATTHEW   XVn. 


319 


Simon  ?     Of  whom  do  the  kings  of  the  earth  take  custom  or 
tribute  ?  of  their  own  children,  or  of  strangers  ?     Peter  saith 

26  unto  him,  Of  strangers.     Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Then  are  the 

27  children  free.  Notwithstanding,  lest  we  should  offend  them, 
go  thou  to  the  sea,  and  cast  a  hook,  and  take  up  the  fish  that 
first  Cometh  up ;  and  when  thou  hast  opened  his  mouth,  thou 
shalt  find  a  piece  of  money ;  that  take,  and  give  unto  them,  for 
me  and  thee. 


nacle  was  set  up,  which  the  Lord 
had  pitched,  and  not  man.  It  is 
then  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
back  Peter,  and  with  him  the  other 
disciples,  to  the  true  recognition  of 
himself,  from  which  they  had  in 
part  fallen,  that  the  Lord  puts  to  him 
the  question  which  follows  ;  and 
being  engaged,  through  Peter's 
hasty  imprudence,  to  the  render- 
ing of  the  didrachm,  which  now  he 
could  hardly  recede  from,  j^et  did 
it   in   the   remarkable  way  of  this 

miracle Here,  as  so  often 

in  the  life  of  our  Lord,  the  depth 
of  his  poverty  and  humiliation  is 
lightened  up  by  a  gleam  of  his 
glory.  And  thus,  by  the  manner 
of  the  payment,  did  he  reassert 
the  true  dignity  of  his  person,  which 
else  by  the  payment  itself  might 
have  been  obscured  and  compro- 
mised in  the  eyes  of  some,  but 
which  it  was  of  all  importance  for 
the  disciples  that  they  should  not 
lose  sight  of,  or  forget.  The  miracle, 
then,  was  to  supply  a  real  need,  — 
slight  indeed  as  an  outward  need, 
for  the  money  could  assuredly  have 
been  in  some  other  and  more  ordi- 
nary way  procured ;  but  as  an  inner 
need,  most  real ;  in  this,  then,  dif- 


fering in  its  essence  from  the  apoc- 
rjT^hal  miracles,  which  are  con- 
tinually mere  sports  and  freaks  of 
power,'  having  no  ethical  motive  or 
meaning  whatever."  Notes  on  the 
Miracles.  25.  custom  or 

tribute]  a  property-tax^  or  a  poll- 
tax.  _  26.  Then  are  the 
children  free]  Referring  to  him- 
self, accoi'ding  to  Peter's  confes- 
sion, as  the  Son  of  God,  and  there- 
fore not  liable  to  pay  money  for  the 
support  of  worship*^in  his  "^Father's 
temple.  It  is  important  to  bear  iu 
mind  that  this  money  was  not  paid 
to  the  Roman  government,  but  for 
the  temple  service.  27. 
for  me  and  thee]  As  the  tribute 
here  paid  was  for  those  twenty 
years  old  and  upwards,  and  as  it 
was  paid  only  for  Jesus  and  Peter, 
Bengel  infers  that  the  other  dis- 
ciples had  not  then  passed  their 
twentieth  year.  They  were,  proba- 
bly, most  of  them  very  young  men ; 
but  notwithstanding  BengePs  sa- 
gacit}'^  and  learning  in  such  matters, 
we  do  not  think  there  is  any  suffici- 
ent reason  to  suppose  that  at  that 
time  any  of  them,  with  perhaps  the 
exception  of  John,  were  less  than 
twent}'  years  of  age. 


320  MATTHEW   XVIII.    1-10. 

CHAPTER    XYIIT. 
The  Primitive  Church  of  Christ. 

We  look  upon  this  chapter  as  indicating,  1.  (1  -4.)  The 
terms  of  admission  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  or  the 
Church  of  Christ;  2.  (5  —  10.)  Tlie  thoughtful  tenderness 
and  solicitude  with  which  his  followers,  or  the  members 
of  his  Church,  are  to  watch  over  the  weak  and  inex- 
perienced among  them ;  3.  (11  —  14.)  The  earnestness  with 
which  they  are  to  seek  out  and  save  the  lost ;  4.  (15-17.) 
The  manner  in  which,  as  members  of  his  Church,  we  are  to 
deal  with  those  of  our  brethren  who  injure  us  ;  5.  (18-  20.) 
The  power  which  is  given  to  us  as  united  together  in 
him  and  he  in  us;  and  5.  (21-35.)  The  forgiving  and 
forbearing  spirit  which  we  are  to  exercise  towards  our 
brethren,  however  often  they  may  sin  against  us.  The 
meaning  of  each  passage  is  perhaps  in  itself  plain  enough  ; 
but  it  requires  close  attention  and  a  careful  analysis  to 
see  how  intimately  the  different  clauses  are  connected,  and 
how  they  all  bear  on  the  same  subject. 

1  — 10.  First,  there  are  the  disciples  with  their  minds 
so  blinded  by  schemes  of  personal  ambition  and  their 
obstinate  Jewish  prejudices,  that  they  are  hardly  able  to 
understand  the  plainest  teachings  of  their  Master.  Their 
jealousy  and  pride  had  perhaps  been  excited  by  the  par- 
ticular favor  which  had  been  shown  (xvii.  1)  to  Peter, 
James,  and  John,  and  they  were  disputing  by  the  way 
as  to  which  of  them  should  hold  the  highest  offices  in 
his  kingdom.  Jesus  (Luke  ix.  47),  knowing  the  feeling 
by  which  they  were  moved,  asked  them  (Mark  ix.  33), 
after  coming  into  the  house,  what  they  had  been  disputing 
about  by  the  way.     They,  obviously  abashed  by  his  ques- 


MATTHEW   XVIII.    1  -  10.  321 

tion,  at  first  made  no  reply.  But  afterwards,  concealing 
the  invidiousness  of  their  personal  dispute  under  the  gen- 
eral form  of  their  question,  they  asked  Jesus  who  i^  greatest 
in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  i.  e.  in  the  community  or  king- 
dom which  he  is  about  to  establish  on  the  earth  ?  He 
replied  in  such  a  way  as  not  only  to  meet  the  specific 
question,  but  the  feeling  out  of  which  their  dispute  and 
all  similar  disputes  have  arisen. 

He  called  to  him  a  child,  and  with  this  impressive 
emblem  before  them,  said,  "  Unless  ye  be  converted  and 
become  as  little  children"  —  far  from  being  the  greatest 
—  "ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,"  —  shall 
not  belong  to  my  kingdom,  or  my  church,  at  all.  These 
proud,  ambitious  thoughts  and  prejudices  of  yours  must  be 
put  aside.  For  he  who  like  this  little  child  makes  himself  of 
no  account,  and  has  his  mind  and  heart  open  with  childhke 
docility  to  every  pure  intluence  and  teaching,  —  he  is  great- 
est in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.  Tlien,  rising  from  the  lit- 
eral to  the  figurative  meaning  of  the  word  child,  and  carry- 
ing the  idea  of  self-renunciation  or  humility  out  into  deeds  of 
active  beneficence,  he  adds,  whosoever  shall  receive  one 
such  child,  i.  e.  one  weak  and  inexperienced  disciple  of  mine 
in  my  name,  i.  e.  in  my  spirit,  receiveth  me,  and,  Luke 
ix.  48,  not  only  me,  but  Him  who  hath  sent  me.  As  the 
rulers  of  a  mighty  empire  throw  their  defences  around 
the  least  of  their  obedient  subjects,  and  identify  them- 
selves with  him  if  his  rights  are  violated,  so  Christ  identi- 
fies himself  with  the  most  helpless  and  ignorant  of  his 
disciples,  and  makes  their  cause  his.  And  not  only  will 
he  who  receives  such  an  one  in  a  spirit  of  childlike 
humility  and  love,  receive  Christ,  but,  6,  he  who  shall 
offend  such  an  one,  i.  e.  who  shall  be  the  means  of 
causing  a  weak  brother  to  sin,  shall  be  exposed  to  the 
heaviest  condemnation.  He  shall  be  cut  off  from  the 
community  of  believers.  Sad  it  is  for  the  world,  7,  that 
it   should   abound   in    temptations   to   sin ;    but    that,   alas 


322  MATTHEW   XVIII.    1  -  10. 

for  them !  is  no  excuse  for  those  who  lead  others  astray. 
And  as  there  is  no  way  to  avoid  being  the  cause  of 
temptation  to  others,  except  by  cutting  off  whatever  is 
wrong  in  our  own  Hves  and  hearts,  therefore,  8,  9,  if  thy 
hand  or  thine  eye  is  causing  thee  to  sin,  cut  it  off,  tear 
it  out,  and  cast  it  from  thee.  Then,  in  a  still  stronger 
form,  he  repeats  the  admonition  that  they  must  not  let 
their  pride  and  want  of  charity  injure  the  weak  and  in- 
experienced disciples,  for,  he  adds,  the  angels  who  watch 
over  them  are  higldy  honored  by  my  Father  who  is  in 
heaven,  and,  unworthy  and  lost  though  these  feeble  ones 
may  seem  to  you,  it  is  for  that  very  reason  that  the  Son 
of  man  has  come  to  save  them.  And  his  coming  to  save 
them  is  a  further  reason  why  you  should  be  the  more 
careful  and  thoughtful  for  them.  How  does  it  seem  to 
you?  Then,  12,  13,  follows  the  pertinent  and  beautiful 
parable  of  the  shepherd  on  the  mountains  searching  for 
the  one  foolish  sheep  that  had  wandered  away,  as  they 
also  —  his  disciples  —  must  go  out  and  search  for  the  erring 
and  the  lost.  For  in  so  doing,  they  will  only  be  acting  in 
accordance  with  the  will  of  God.  Even  so  it  is  not  the 
will  of  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven,  that  one  of  these 
little  ones  —  these  frail  and  erring  ones  —  should  perish. 

If  then  your  brother  sin  against  you,  do  what  you  can 
to  "gain"  or  win  him  back, —  1.  By  going  to  him  and 
setting  the  matter  truthfully  before  him  between  you  and 
him  alone,  that  his  pride  may  not  be  excited  by  the  pres- 
ence of  others,  and  that  he  may  be  touched  by  your 
kindness ;  2.  If  he  does  not  hear  you  alone,  then  take 
two  or  three  with  you,  that  he  may  be  moved  by  the 
weight  of  their  authority,  and  think  more  carefully  of 
what  he  has  done ;  but,  3.  If  he  disregard  them,  refer 
it  to  the  church,  and,  if  he  refuse  to  listen  to  them,  you 
have  done  all  that  you  can  do,  and  are  henceforth  to  re- 
gard him  as  no  longer  a  Christian  brother.  For  an  ex- 
planation of  v.    18,  which  is  closely  connected   with   this, 


MATTHEW    XVIII.    18-20.  323 

see  note  to  xvi.  19.  The  authority  there  given  to  St. 
Peter  is  here  assigned  to  all  the  Apostles,  and  also,  we 
think,  to  the  Church  in  all  ages,  which  of  course  over- 
throws the  papal  claim  of  supremacy  through  St.  Peter. 

18-20.  The  condition  of  fulfilment  for  the  promises 
in  verses  18  and  19  is  given  in  20.  "For  where  two  or 
three  are  brought  together  in  my  name,  i.  e.  in  my  spirit, 
there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  whatsoever  they, 
thoroughly  united  in  my  spirit  and  in  harmony  with  one 
another,  shall  in  accordance  with  that  spirit  bind  or  loose 
on  earth,  it  shall  be  bound  or  loosed  in  heaven,  and  what- 
ever they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  granted  to  them."  The 
perfect  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  Christ,  i.  e.  in  his  name, 
is  the  condition  on  which  the  action  on  earth  shall  be 
ratified  in  heaven,  and  on  which  the  prayer  of  the  dis- 
ciples on  earth  will  be  answered  by  their  Father  in  heaven. 
So  in  John  xiv.  13,  14,  and  xvi.  25,  26,  the  same  con- 
dition, "in  my  name,"  is  annexed. 

Have  we  not  here  (17-20)  Christ's  idea  of  a  church? 
Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  his  name, 
and  he  is  in  the  midst  of  them,  is  not  that,  in  its  simplest 
form,  a  Christian  Church  ?  The  church  spoken,  of  in  this 
passage  is,  as  Stier  says,  "  the  society,  called  together 
in  unity  of  faith  and  love,  of  those  who  believe  on  him, 
who  are  united  in  his  name  ;  a  society  in  which  is  carried 
out  and  exercised  upon  earth  what  is  valid  in  heaven. 
This  is  the  simple,  fundamental  idea  here  clearly  expressed." 
The  presence  of  Christ  is,  of  course,  a  spiritual  presence, 
and  the  form  of  speech  here  and  elsewhere  (e.  g.  John 
xiv.  23)  would  indicate  that  it  is  also  a  personal  pres- 
ence. Here  then  is  a  Christian  Church  —  a  community 
of  believers,  though  only  two  or  three  —  coming  together 
in  his  name,  united  in  his  spirit,  and  he  himself  in  the 
midst  of  them,  the  medium  to  them  of  a  divine  life,  which 
flows  in  upon  them,  and  by  which  they  grow  up  in  him, 
"  the  one  Mediator  between  God  and  men."     Here  is  the 


324  MATTHEW   XVIII.    18-20. 

seminal  idea  of  a  Christian  Church,  and  with  this  as  a 
centre,  in  accordance  with  the  directions  given  in  this 
chapter,  each  separate  community  of  believers,  formed  in 
direct  communion  with  Christ,  has  hfe  in  itself  through 
him,  and  is  in  itself  through  him  a  living  organism,  with 
all  the  elements  of  Christian  growth  and  life.  And 
wherever  two  or  three  of  its  members  find  themselves, 
in  the  Providence  of  God,  cut  off  by  change  of  place  or 
other  circumstances  from  the  primitive  community,  they 
also  meeting  together  in  the  name  of  Christ  may  be  united 
with  him  as  members  of  his  body,  and  so  long  as  they 
hve  in  accordance  with  his  precepts  they  are  truly  a 
church  of  Christ,  owned,  assisted,  blessed  by  him,  and  grow- 
ing up  into  him  who  is  the  head.  What  they  shall  bind 
or  loose  in  his  name,  i.  e.  in  accordance  with  his  spirit, 
on  earth,  shall  be  bound  or  loosed  in  heaven,  and  what 
they  shall  agree  on  earth  to  ask  in  accordance  with  his 
spirit,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  by  their  Father  who  is 
in  heaven.  This  is  the  primitive  idea  of  the  Church, — 
and  the  only  one  which  was  given  by  Christ.  Arch- 
bishop Whately  says,  that  "  the  churches  founded  by  the 
Apostles  were  all  quite  independent  of  each  other,  or  of 
any  one  central  body."  Out  of  this  simple  community 
of  Christian  believers,  united  with  one  another  in  Christ, 
and  having  such  officers,  or  servants  rather  and  ministers, 
as  might  be  required  for  the  purposes  of  general  conven- 
ience, order,  and  edification,  have  grown  up  the  monstrous 
ecclesiastical  assumptions  and  prerogatives,  by  which  men, 
under  different  names,  but  always  in  the  spirit  of  arro- 
gance and  presumption  that  is  here  rebuked,  have  lord- 
ed it  over  God's  heritage.  What  can  be  more  directly 
in  violation  of  the  teachings  of  Jesus  than  the  preroga- 
tives and  despotic  authority  which  have  been  assumed 
over  his  Church  ?  His  lan^uase  is :  "  Whosoever,  there- 
fore,  shall  humble  himself  as  this  little  child,  the  same 
is  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  j "  and  the  kingdom 


MATTHEW   XVIH.    21-35.  325 

of  Heaven  in  the  question,  verse  1,  to  which  these  words 
are  a  reply,  is  the  kingdom  of  Christ  on  earth,  his  Church 
here  on  earth.  In  Luke  xxii.  24-26  (with  which  com- 
pare Matthew  xx.  25-27)  he  uses  still  stronger  lan- 
guage. There  was  a  strife  among  the  disciples,  which 
of  them  should  be  accounted  the  greatest.  And  he  said 
unto  them,  "  The  kings  of  the  Gentiles  exercise  lordship 
over  them  ;  and  they  that  exercise  authority  upon  them 
are  called  Benefactors.  But  ye  shall  not  be  so:  but  he 
that  is  greatest  among  you,  let  him  be  as  the  younger ; 
and  he  that  is  chief  as  he  that  doth  serve."  The  same 
idea  is  again  urged  upon  the  disciples  by  Jesus  in  lan- 
guage which  looks  as  if  it  had  been  directly  aimed  at 
the  distinctions  which  have  sprung  tip  to  feed  a  low, 
earthly  ambition  in  his  Church.  "  Be  not  ye  called  Rabbi : 
for  one  is  your  Master  [Schoolmaster],  even  Christ ;  and 
all  ye  are  brethren.  And  call  no  man  your  father  upon 
the  earth :  for  one  is  your  Father,  who  is  in  heaven. 
Neither  be  ye  called  masters :  for  one  is  your  Master, 
even  Christ.  But  he  that  is  greatest  among  you  shall 
be  your  servant."  (Matthew  xxiii.  7-11.)  Of  course  these 
terms  are  not  to  be  taken  literally  ;  but  if  they  have  any 
purpose  or  meaning  whatever,  it  is  to  condemn  the  spirit- 
ual domination  and  pride  which  have  been  cherished  and 
exercised  within  the  Church,  and  under  the  pretence  of 
sustaining  its  dignity  and  authority. 

21-35.  As  to  the  question  put  by  Peter,  and  the  reply 
to  it,  it  is  not  certain  whether  they  made  a  part  of  this 
same  conversation  or  not.  Even  if  they  did  not,  the 
Evangelist  has  evidently  introduced  them  in  this  place 
as  bearing  upon  the  subject  which  has  just  been  under 
consideration.  The  circumstances  of  the  case,  especially 
the  manner  in  which  the  question  is  put,  would  seem  to 
indicate  that  Peter  was  prompted  to  ask  the  question  by 
w^hat  had  just  been  said.  After  the  directions  which  Jesus 
had  given,  15-17,  for  dealing  with  an  offending  brother, 
28 


32 G  MATTHEW    XVIII. 

Peter  asked  for  some  specific  rule.  He  wished  to  know 
precisely  how  many  times  he  is  to  forgive,  and  in  mention- 
ing seven  as  the  number,  he  undoubtedly  thinks  that  he 
is  carrying  his  forbearance  to  the  farthest  possible  limit. 
The  reply  of  Jesus,  "  I  say  not  unto  you,  until  seven 
times,  but  until  seventy  times  seven,"  implies  that  there 
are  to  be  no  limits  of  the  kind  which  Peter  has  sug- 
gested. And  to  illustrate  and  enforce  the  duty  of  for- 
giving others  from  our  need  of  the  Divine  forgiveness, 
he  added  the  parable  of  the  unmerciful  servant,  which 
shows  in  the  most  forcible  manner  that  we  cannot  expect 
God  to  forgive  us  unless  we  from  our  hearts  forgive  every 
one  his  brother.  It  is  the  same  doctrine  implied  in  the 
Lord's  prayer  (vi.  12),  and  more  explicitly  urged  in  the 
remarks  which  follow  it  (vi.  14,   15). 


NOTES. 


At  the  same  time  came  the  disciples  unto  Jesus,  saying, 
Who  is  the  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  ?     And  Jesus  2 
called  a  little  child  unto  him,  and  set  him  in  the  midst  of  them, 
and  said.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  except  ye  be  converted,  and  3 
become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  Heaven.     Whosoever  therefore  shall  humble  himself  as  this  4 
little  child,  the  same  is  greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  Heaven. 
And  whoso  shall  receive  one  such  little  child  in  my  name,  re-  s 
ceiveth  me.     But  whoso  shall  offend  one  of  these  little  ones  6 
which  believe  in  me,  it  were  better  for  him  that  a  millstone 
were  hanged  about  his  neck,  and  that  he  were  drowned  in  the 

1.  At  the  same  time]     Liter-  ing  is  in  the  midst  of  the  open  sea, 

ally,  at  that  hour,  but  not  thus  to  -where   there   could   be  no  possible 

be' taken.      It  is  nearly  equivalent  hope    of   escape.      This    rriode    of 

to   Then,  or  At   that  time.  punishment   was   not   practised  by 

6.  a  millstone]     The  form  the  Jews,  thouo:h   it   was    in   use 

of  expression  here   is  very  strong,  among  some   other   nations.      It  is 

The  millstone  is  of  the  heavy  kind  better  for  a  man  to  be  drowned  now 

turned  by  animals,  and  the  drown-  in  the  sea,  than  to  live  till  he  has 


MATTHEW    XVIII. 


327 


7  depth  of  the  sea. Woe  unto  the  woi-ld  because  of  offences  ! 

for  it  must  needs  be  that  offences  come  ;  but  woe  to  that  man 

8  by  whom  the  offence  cometh  !  "VMierefore,  if  thy  hand  or  thy 
foot  offend  thee,  cut  them  off,  and  cast  them  from  thee  ;  it  is 
better  for  thee  to  enter  into  life  halt  or  maimed,  rather  than, 
having  two  hands,  or  two  feet,  to  be  cast  into  everlasting  fire. 

9  And  if  thine  eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out,  and  cast  it  from 
thee ;  it  is  better  for  thee  to  enter  into  life  with  one  eye, 
rather  than,  having  two  eyes,  to  be  cast  into  hell-fire. 

10  Take  heed  that  ye  despise  not  one  of  these  little  ones ;  for 
I  say  unto  you,  that  in  heaven  their  angels  do  always  behold 

11  the  face  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven.     For  the  Son  of 

12  man  is  come  to  save  that  Avhich  was  lost.  How  think  ye  ? 
if  a  man  have  an  hundred  sheep,  and  one  of  them  be  gone 
astray,  doth  he  not  leave  the  ninety  and  nine,  and  goeth  into 

13  the  mountains,  and  seeketh  that  which  is  gone  astray  ?  And 
if  so  be  that  he  find  it,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  he  rejolceth  more 
of  that  sheep  than  of  the  ninety  and  nine  which  went  not  astray. 

14  Even  so,  it  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven 


caused  these  little  ones  to  sin,  and 
then  die.  8.  if  thy  hand 

or  thy  foot  offend  thee]  Wliat- 
ever  is  to  you  a  cause  or  occasion 
of  sin,  though  it  be  a  hand,  or  foot, 
or  eye,  cut  it  off,  pluck  it  out,  and 
cast'  it  from  you.  "  Hand,  foot, 
eye,"  says  Olshausen,  "  here  appear 
to  be  used  by  the  Saviour  to  denote 
mental  powers  and  dispositions,  and 
he  counsels  their  restraint,  their 
non-development,  if  a  man  find 
himself,  by  their  cultivation,  Avitli- 
drawn  from  advancing  the  highest 
principle  of  life."  "  It  is,  however, 
a  more  elevated  thing  to  succeed  in 
learning  how  to  cultivate  even  the 
lower  faculties  in  harmony  with 
the  higher  life."  10.  their 

angels]  Behold  the  face,  SfC.  indi- 
cates a  place  of  honor  and  peculiar 
tiwor.  "  This  saying  of  our  Lord," 
says  Alford,  "  assures  us  that  those 
angels  Avhose  honor  is  high  before 
God  are  intrusted  with  the  charge 
of  the  humble  and  meek,  —  tlie 
children  in  age  and  the  children 
in  grace."  "  We  speak  to  our 
children,"  says  Stier,  "  fjir  too  lit- 


tle about  their  angels,  and  we  our- 
selves, as  believers,  do  not  think 
enough  of  ours.  The  angels  are  in 
heaven,  and  yet  occupied  at  the 
same  time  in  service  and  business 
on  earth  about  their  wards ;  for  the 
heaven  is  not  closed  in  space  over 
the  earth,  but  is  ever  open  to  us  in 
everything  which  it  sends.  Where 
the  angels  of  God  go  and  stand, 
there  also  is  heaven,  and  the  face 
of  God,  Avhich  they  at  all  times, 
without  interruption  from  anything 
else,  behold."  12.  he 

not  leave  the  ninety  and  nine, 
and  goeth  into  the  mountains] 
Luke  XV.  4  says,  ''  in  the  .Avilder- 
ness."  "  The  combined  description 
of  the  pastures  in  the  wilderness, 
and  on  the  mountains,  can  hardly 
find  any  position  in  Palestine  pre- 
cisely applicable,  except '  the  moun- 
tainous country '  or  '  wilderness,' 
so  often  called  by  these  names,  on 
the  east  of  the  Jordan.  The  sheji- 
herd  of  this  touching  parable  thus 
becomes  the  successor  of  the  wild 
herdsmen  of  the  trans^Tordanic 
tribes  who  wandered  far  and  wide 


328 


MATTHEW    XVIII. 


that  one  of  these  little  ones  should  perish. Moreover,  if  is 

thy  brother  shall  trespass  against  thee,  go  and  tell  him  his  fault 
between  thee  and  him  alone ;  if  he  shall  hear  thee,  thou  hast 
gained  thy  brother.  But  if  he  will  not  hear  thee,  then  take  with  16 
thee  one  or  two  more,  that  in  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  wit- 
nesses every  word  may  be  established.  And  if  he  shall  neg-  17 
lect  to  hear  them,  tell  it  unto  the  church  ;  but  if  he  neglect  to 
hear  the  church,  let  him  be  unto  thee  as  an  heathen  man  and  a 


over  those  free  and  open  hills, — 
the  last  i-elics  of  the  patriarchal 
state  of  their  ancestors."  Stanley's 
Sinai  and  Palestine,  p.  416. 
17.  unto  the  church]  This  word, 
€KK\r]aia,  is  found  nowhere  in  the 
Gospels,  except  in  this  verse  and 
^hitt.  xvi.  18:  "  On  this  rock  I  will 
bnild  my  church," — a  remarkable 
fact,  when  we  consider  how  much 
the  Church  has  arrogated  to  itself, 
so  that  the  history  of  the  Chui-eh  is 
considered  synonymous  with  the 
history  of  Christianity.  The  gi-ad- 
ual  ascendency  of  the  Church  and 
its  offices,  —  of  an  outward  despotic 
anthority  over  the  inward  life  and 
precepts  of  our  religion,  —  furnishes 
one  of  the  saddest  exhibitions  of 
human  ambition  and  depravity. 
The  word,  as  used  by  Jesus,  was 
undoubtedly  intended  to  express 
what  he  meant  by  a  community  of 
believers  united  in  him,  and  endow- 
ed by  him  with  all  the  means  of 
jrrace  which  are  needed  for  their 
Christian  life  and  advancement. 
In  the  passage  before  us  he  refers 
to  one  such  comnuniity  of  believers 
as  complete  in  itself  and  as  having 
authority  to  deal  with  offenders. 
In  Matt'  xvi.  18  he  uses  tiie  word 
Church  to  express  in  the  abstract 
the  Avhole  system  of  means  and 
powers  and  agencies  by  which  his 
kingdom  was  to  be  established  in 
the  world,  resting,  as  they  all  do, 
on  faith  in  him  as  the  Christ,  the 
Son  or  the  living  God.  Tlie  word 
itself,  says  Ti'ench,  Synonymes  of 
the  New  Testament,  pp.  17, 18,  "  is 
one  of  those  words  whose  history 
it  is  peculiarly  interesting  to  watch, 
as  they  obtain  a  deeper  meaning, 
and  receive  a  new  consecration  in 
the  Christian  Church,  Avhich,  even 


while  it  did  not  invent,  has  yet  a.s- 
sumed  them  into  its  service,  and 
employed  them  in  a  far  loftier  sense 
tlian  any  to  which  the  world  had  ever 

put  them  before (KK\rj(ria, 

as  all  know,  was  the  lawful  assem- 
bly in  a  free  Greek  city  of  all  those 
possessed  of  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship, for  the  transaction  of  public 
affairs.  That  they  were  summoned 
is  expressed  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  word  ;  that  they  were  sum- 
moned out  of  the  whole  population, 
a  select  portion  of  it,  including  nei- 
ther the  populace,  nor  yet  strangers, 
nor  those  who  had  forfeited  their 
civic  rights,  this  is  expressed  in  the 
first.  Both  the  catliny,  and  the  call- 
ing Old,  are  moments  to  be  remem- 
bered, when  the  word  is  assumed 
into  a  higher  Christian  sense,  for  in 
them  the  chief  part  of  its  peculiar 
adaptation  to  its  auguster  uses  lies. 
It  is  interesting  to  obsen-e  how,  on 
one  occasion  in  the  New  Testament, 
the  word  returns  to  its  earlier  sig- 
nificance." (Acts  xix.  32,  39.  40.) 
The  meaning  of  the  word  ecclesit, 
church,  may  derive  some  light 
from  the  use,  by  our  Saviour,  of  the 
word  (KXfKTui,  the  elect,  or  the 
(hosen,  since  the  ecclesia  was  the 
body  of  the  edectoi,  the  chosen. 
"  For  many  are  called,  but  few  are 
chosen,""  edectoi.  (Matt.  xxii.  14.) 
"  lint  for  the  sake  of  the  elect 
[edectoi]  those  days  shall  be  short- 
ened." (Matt.  xxiv.  22.)  "  So  as  to 
deceive,  if  possible,  even  the  elect.'* 
(Matt.  xxiv.  24.)  In  verse  31  of 
the  same  chapter,  "  And  they  shall 
gather  together  the  elect  from 
the  four  winds."  "And  he  shall 
avenge  his  elect.'"  (Luke  xviii.  7.) 
"  Let  him  save  himself,  if  he  be 
the  Christ,  the  chosen  [tlie  elect]  of 


MATTHEW    XVIir. 


829 


18  publican. Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Whatsoever  ye  shall  bind 

on  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven ;  and  whatsoever  ye  shall 

19  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven.  Again,  I  say  unto 
you,  that  if  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth  as  touching  any- 
thing that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be  done  for 'them  of  my  Father 

20  which  is  in  heaven.  For  where  two  or  three  are  gathered 
together  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them. 


God."  (Luke  xxiii.  35.)  The 
Church  of  Christ  is  the  body  or 
conuuunity  of  the  elect,  of  those 
who  are  not  only  called,  but  called 
out,  i.  e.  chosen  as  true  and  foithful 
believers.  It  includes  the  weak, 
the  inexperienced,  and  those  Avho 
are  easily  led  astray,  and  directs  the 
strong  to  watch  over  them ;  to  seek 
them  out  when  they  wander  away ; 
to  deal  kindly  but  honestly  with 
them,  when  they  do  wrong;  and  to 
forgive  them  whenever  they  sin- 
cerely and  penitently  ask  to  be 
forgiven.  Here  is  the  Christian 
Church,  calling  in  those  who  are 
without,  and  receiving  those  who, 
by  accepting  the  call,  cause  them- 
selves to  be  effectually  called,  and 
numbered  among  the  elect.  The 
Avord  church,  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, is  almost  always  applied  to  a 
single  body  of  believers,  united  in 
one  another  and  in  Christ,  and  thus 
forming  a  community  by  them- 
selves, with  all  the  privileges,  ordi- 
nances, and  means  of  grace  essen- 
tial to  salvation,  so  that  if  every 
other  Clun*ch  in  the  world  should 
be  cut  off,  in  this  one  Avould  be  left 
the  germ  of  all  that  would  be  need- 
ed to  evangelize  and  convert  the 
world.  The  Avord  church,  in  Matt, 
xvi.  18.  is  used  to  express  in  the 
abstract  that  system  of  poAvers  and 
agencies,  human  and  diAine,  by 
Avhich  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  the 
religion  of  Jesus,  is  to  sustain,  ex- 
tend, and  perpetuate  itself  in  the 
Avorld,  so  that  the  gates  of  death, 
the  poAvers  of  evil,  shall  not  prevail 
against  it.  It  is  also  used,  though 
very  rarely,  and  never  by  our 
Saviour,  or  in  the  Gospels,  to  desig- 
nate the  great  body  of  the  faith- 
ful throughout  the  Avorld,  Avho  live 
and  believe  in  Christ,  keeping  the 
commandments  of  God  and  the 
28* 


Faith  of  Jesus.  In  this  sense  the 
Avord  is  used  by  St.  Paul,  e,  g.  Col. 
i.  18,  "  And  he  is  the  head  of  the 
body,  the  Church."  20.  in 

my  name]  Name  denotes  the  per- 
son, the  being  himself,  or  his  spirit. 
To  assemble  in  the  name  of  Jesus, 
and  pray  in  his  name,  presupposes 
the  life  and  the  spirit  of  Jesus  to  be 
already  existing  in  those  so  meeting 
together.  "  It  is  no  isolated  act." 
"  but  requires  rather  as  a  necessary 
condition,  that  man  should  be  mider 
the  power  of  living  Christian  prin- 
ciple." The  influence  of  combined 
and  associated  prayer,  through  the 
sympathetic  quickening  of  the  relig- 
ious nature  is  here  imi)lied. 

there  am  I  in  the  midst  of 
them]  He  is  present  by  his  spirit, 
Avhich  they  are  thus  cherishing  in 
their  OAvn  hearts,  and  in  liis  religion 
Avhich  they  are  thus  seeking  to  es- 
tablish as  the  rule  and  hiAv  of  their 
lives.  He  also,  we  suppose,  promises 
to  be  himself  personally  present 
Avith  them.  Such  a  promise  does 
not  of  itself  prove  him  omnipresent. 
We  are  too  apt  to  infer  that  poAvers 
more  than  human  can  belong  only 
to  God.  It  is  said  that  because 
Jesus  stilled  the  tempest,  he  must 
therefore  have  been  omnipotent  : 
that  because  he  kncAv  that  Peter 
Avould  catch  a  fish  Avith  the  piece  of 
money  in  his  mouth,  therefore  he 
Avas  omniscient:  and  that  because 
he  is  personally  present  Avith  all 
those  Avho  come  together  in  his 
name,  therefore  he  is  omnipresent. 
Such  reasoning  is  altogether  un- 
authorized. BetAveen  the  limita- 
tions of  man's  faculties  and  the 
omnipotence  of  God,  there  is  room 
for  the  exercise  of  poAvers  Avhich 
lie  beyond  the  reach  of  all  that  avo 
can  know  and  distinctly  conceiA-e. 
We  cannot  define  the  ranks  of  be- 


330 


MATTHEW    XVIII. 


Then  came  Peter  to  him,  and  said,  Lord,  how  oft  shall  my  21 
brother  sin  against  me,  and  1  forgive  him  ?  till  seven  times  ? 
Jesus  saith  unto  him,  I  say  not  unto  thee.  Until  seven  times,  22 
but.  Until  seventy  times  seven.     Therefore  is  the  kingdom  of  23 
Heaven  likened  unto  a  certain  king,  which  would  take  account 
of  his  servants.     And  when  he  had  begun  to  reckon,  one  was  24 
brought  unto  him  which  owed  him  ten  thousand  talents.     But  25 
forasmuch  as  he  had  not  to  pay,  his  lord  commanded  him  to  be 
sold,  and  his  wife  and  children,  and  all  that  he  had,  and  pay- 
ment to  be  made.     The  servant  therefore  fell  down  and  wor-  26 
shipped  him,  saying,  Lord,  have  patience  with  me,  and  I  will 
pay  thee  all.     Then  the  Lord  of  that  servant  was  moved  with  27 
compassion,  and  loosed  him,  and  forgave  him  the  debt.     But  28 
the  same  servant  went  out,  and  found  one  of  his  fellow-servants, 
which  owed  him  an  hundred  pence  ;  and  he  laid  hands  on  him, 
and  took  him  by  the  throat,  saying.  Pay  me  that  thou  owest. 


ings  and  intelligences  which  may 
range  through  the  boundless  fields 
of  existence  between  us  and  the 
Supreme  Mind.  We  cannot  set 
any  precise  limits  to  their  powers. 
Between  the  limitations  of  man's 
presence,  while  he  is  in  the  body, 
and  the  ubiquity  of  the  Infinite 
Spirit,  the  power  of  being  personally 
present  in  places  distant  from  one 
another  at  the  same  moment,  may 
be  possessed  in  entirely  different 
degrees  by  different  beings.  A 
man  may  be  present  to  ten  thousand 
men  at  the  same  moment,  acting 
by  his  voice  and  gestures  on  every 
one  of  the  vast  assembly.  It  may 
well  be,  that  spiritual  beings  of  a 
higher  order,  not  bound  by  a  mate- 
rial organization,  may  with  their 
clearer  perceptions  and  finer  powers 
of  action  be  present  at  the  same 
moment  to  millions  of  beings  widely 
separated  from  one  another.  It  will 
not  do  then  to  accept  the  reasoning 
by  which  one  class  of  Christians 
argue  that  the  promise  here  made 
by  Jesus  to  be  personally  present 
with  his  disciples  is  an  impossi- 
bility; or  that  by  which  others  ar- 
gue, that  because  he  is  thus  present 
he  must  therefore  be  omnipresent. 
Bud  reasoning  is  as  much  out  of 


place  in  a  religious  as  in  a  scientific 
investigation,  and  is  as  dangerous 
in  the  interpretation  of  the  words 
of  Divine  Truth  as  in  the  limita- 
tions which  it  would  put  on  the 
works  of  the  Divine  Mind. 
24.  ten  thousand  talents]  The 
largest  sum  that  was  spoken  of,  as 
Ave  sometimes  say  a  thousand  mil- 
lions of  dollars.  According  to  01s- 
hauseii,  it  could  not  be  less  than 
$  13,000,000.  "  In  the  constniction 
of  the  tabernacle,  twenty-nine  tal- 
ents of  gold  were  used.  (Exod. 
xxxviii.  24.)  David  prepared  for 
the  temple  three  thousand  talents 
of  gold,  and  the  princes  five  thou- 
sand." According  to  Plutarch,  it 
was  exactly  this  sum  of  10,000 
talents  with  which  Darius  sought 
to  buy  off"  Alexander;  and  the  pay- 
ment of  the  same  sum  was  imposed 
by  the  Romans  on  Antiochus  the 
Great,  after  his  defeat  by  them. 
26.  fell  down  and 
worshipped  him]  A  customaiy 
act  of  respect  from  an  infericy-  to 
a  superior.  28.  an  hundred 

pence]  less  than  a  millionth  part 
of  ten  thousand  talents,  showing 
the  smaUness  of  our  brother's  obli- 
gation to  us,  compared  with  ours  to 
God.        he  laid  hands  on  him, 


MATTHEW   XVIII. 


331 


29  And  his  fellow-servant  fell  down  at  his  feet,  and  besought  hira, 

30  saying,  Have  patience  with  me,  and  I  will  pay  thee  all.  And 
he  would  not ;  but  went  and  cast  him  into  prison,  till  he  should 

31  pay  the  debt.  So  when  his  fellow-servants  saw  what  was  done, 
they  were  very  sorry ;  and  came  and  told  unto  their  lord  all 

32  that  was  done.  Then  his  lord,  after  that  he  had  called  him, 
said  unto  him,  O  thou  wicked  servant,  I  forgave  thee  all  that 

33  debt,  because  thou  desiredst  me  ;  shouldst  not  thou  also  have 
had  compassion  on  thy  fellow-servant,  even  as  I  had  pity  on 

34  thee  ?     And  his  lord  was  wroth,  and  delivered  him  to  the  tor- 

35  mentors,  till  he  should  pay  all  that  was  due  unto  him.  So  like- 
wise shall  my  Heavenly  Father  do  also  unto  you,  if  ye  from 
your  hearts  forgive  not  every  one  his  brother  their  trespasses. 


and  took  him  by  the  throat] 

more  exactlv  and  literally,  he  stized 
and  choked  him.  Pay  me 

that  thou  owest]  Observe  here 
the  haughty  mode  of  expression 
which  is  so  exactly  in  character 
with  the  reckless  and  cruel  servant. 
He  does  not  mention  the  trifling 
sum  of  one  hundred  pence,  Avhich 
would  lessen  his  consequence  and 
rebuke  his  pride,  but  shows  his  in- 
solence while  he  conceals  the  small- 
ness  of  his  claims,  as  some  do  the 
poverty  of  their  ideas,  by  a  grand, 
imperious,  and  generalizing  form  of 
speech.  If  the  sum  due  to  him  had 
been  ten  thousand  talents,  he  could 
not  have  made  a  more  lofty  and 
sounding  demand.  29.  fell 

doAvii  at  his  feet,  and  besought 
him  ]  Not  as  in  verse  26,  tell 
down  and  worshipped  hixn.  The  dif- 
ferent degi-ees  of  homage  customary 
in  the  two  cases,  according  to  the 


dignity  of   the    persons,   is    nicely 

indicated  by  the  language. 

32.  O  thou  wicked  servant]    His 

cruelty  to  his  fellow-sei'vant  was 
moi'e  severely  regarded  than  his 
wasting  Ids  lord's  goods. 
34.  till  he  should  pay  all  that 
was  due  unto  him]  and  as  that 
can  never  be  done,  the  condition, 
it  has  been  said,  amounts  to  a  per- 
petual imprisonment,  and  there- 
fore proves  the  doctrine  of  eternal 
punishment.  The  Roman  Catholics, 
on  the  contrary,  and  some  Prot- 
estant writers,  e.  g.  Olshausen,  in- 
fer from  it,  that  as  the  word  until 
implies  that  a  limit  is  fixed,  so 
there  is  such  a  thing  after  death 
as  deliverance,  in  behalf  of  some. 
It  seems  to  us,  however,  unreason- 
able to  deduce  any  doctrine  from 
one  of  the  minor  adjuncts  of  a 
parable. 


332  MATTHEW    XIX.    1-12. 


CHAPTER     XIX. 

1-12.  —  The  Christian  Law  of  Divorce. 

1,  2.  Jesus  now  left  Galilee  for  the  last  time.  Ag 
the  Samaritans  (Luke  ix.  53)  refused  to  receive  him,  he 
turned  eastward  from  the  direct  route  to  Jerusalem,  and 
crossing  the  Jordan  entered  the  Pernea,  a  part  of  the 
kingdom  of  Herod  Antipas.  Strictly  speaking,  Judaea  did 
not  extend  beyond  the  Jordan.  But  here,  as  Mr.  Norton 
remarks,  it  is  "  to  be  understood  in  its  more  extended 
meaning,  as  equivalent  to  Palestine.  The  name  Pera^a 
is  not  used  in  the  New  Testament.  The  expression,  Judcea 
beyond  the  Jordan  is,  as  Reland  remarks,  used  by  Josephus 
in  one  instance  to  denote  Peroea."     Antiq.  XIL  4,  11. 

3  —  6.  The  Pharisees  come  to  try  and  perplex  him  by 
their  questions,  and  ask  him  if  it  is  lawful  for  a  man 
to  put  away  his  wife  for  every  cause.  This,  as  De  Wette 
suggests,  was  a  delicate  subject  to  be  discussed  in  the 
dominions  of  Herod  Antipas.  See  xiv.  There  was  a 
division  of  opinion  among  the  Rabbins  as  to  the  construc- 
tion to  be  put  upon  the  Mosaic  law  of  divorce  in  Deut. 
xxiv.  1.  The  School  of  Hillel  maintained  from  it  that 
when  anything  in  his  wife  displeased  a  husband,  "even 
if  she  had  only  oversalted  his  soup,"  it  would  be  a  suffi- 
cient reason  for  giving  her  up.  Rabbi  Schammai  took 
the  expression  in  a  more  limited  sense,  as  referring  only 
to  what  was  scandalous  and  dishonorable.  "  In  the  words 
for  every  cause,''  says  Olshausen,  "there  is  expressed  that 
exposition  of  the  Mosaic  law  which  agrees  with  the  opinions 
of  Ilillers  followers,  and  the  question  accordingly  is  so  put 
as  to  request  his  opinion  on  that  view."  Jesus,  in  his  reply, 
pays  no  regard  to  these  disputes.     He  goes  not  only  be- 


MATTHEW    XIX.    1  -  12.  333 

hind  them,  but  also  behind  the  law  of  Moses,  to  the 
fundamental  reason  on  which  the  law  of  marriage  and  di- 
vorce must  rest.  But  he  does  this  in  a  way  not  to  offend 
their  Jewish  prejudices.  From  the  constitution  of  the  sexes 
as  shown  in  the  act  of  man's  creation,  Jesus  declares,  in 
words  sacred  to  the  Jews  (Gen.  ii.  24)  the  priority  and 
sacredness  of  the  marriage  relation  beyond  all  others.  Not 
by  the  law  of  Moses,  but  long  before  that,  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  sexes,  by  the  very  act  of  creation,  God  or- 
dained the  law  which  is  to  be  binding  in  this  relation, 
and,  "  What  God  hath  thus  joined  together,  let  not  man 
put  asunder." 

7,  8.  But  if  this  be  so,  they  ask,  "  Why  did  Moses  com- 
mand \j)ermit^  Mark  x.  4]  to  give  a  writing  of  divorce- 
ment, and  put  her  away."  In  reply  to  this  question,  Jesus 
again  lays  down  one  of  those  fundamental  principles  which 
so  widely  distinguish  his  views  of  law  from  all  others. 
God  in  his  dealings  with  man,  he  here  intimates,  must 
adapt  his  specific  laws  and  regulations  to  the  necessities 
of  man's  condition.  Hence  a  succession  of  dispensations, 
each  adapted  to  the  existing  state  of  things,  and  preparing 
the  way  for  something  better.  Hence  in  many  respects, 
because  of  the  hardness  of  men's  hearts,  because  they  on 
account  of  their  blunted  moral  sensibilities  are  able  to 
bear  only  so  much,  God  allows  and  even  enjoins  at  one 
period  of  human  progress  that  which  is  forbidden  in  a 
more  advanced  stage  of  moral  and  religious  culture.  Even 
Milton,  in  his  Tetrachordon,  allows  the  necessity  of  this 
adaptation,  though  it  is  opposed  to  his  general  course  of 
argument.  "  For  this  hardness  of  heart,"  he  says,  "  it 
was  that  God  suff*ered,  not  divorce  only,  but  all  that  which 
by  civilians  is  termed  the  secondary  law  of  nature  and 
of  nations.  He  suffered  his  own  people  to  waste  and 
spoil  and  slay  by  war,  to  lead  captives,  to  be  some  masters, 

some  servants in  his  commonwealth ;  some  to  be 

undeservedly  rich,  others  to  be  undeservingly  poor. 


334  MATTHEW    XIX.    1-12. 

In  the  same  manner,  and  for  the  same  cause,  he  suffered 
divorce  as  well  as  marriage,  our  imperfect  and  degenerate 
condition  of  necessity  requiring  this  law  among  the  rest, 
as  a  remedy  against  intolerable  wrong  and  servitude  above 
the  patience  of  man  to  bear."  This  graded  principle  of 
adaptation  to  man's  condition  and  capabilities  in  the  laws 
which  are  designed  for  his  use  even  by  the  Divine  wisdom, 
must  always  be  borne  in  mind  by  those  who  would  study 
the  laws  of  Moses  in  the  light  of  the  highest  philosophy. 
Law  is  always  given,  as  St.  Paul  says  of  the  Jewish 
law  (Gal.  iii.  19),  because  of  transgressions  ;  and  not  that 
-which  is  perfect  when  judged  by  the  rules  of  absolute 
rectitude,  but  that  which  is  the  best  that  men  are  able 
to  bear  at  the  time,  is  the  law  which  is  dictated  by  the 
highest  wisdom. 

Considering  the  character  of  the  Jews  in  the  time  of 
Moses,  the  difficulty  with  which  they  were  brought  to 
recognize  the  highest  sentiments  of  religion  and  morals, 
and  especially  the  violence  of  their  passions  and  their 
tendency  continually  to  lapse  into  idolatry  and  a  low  sen- 
sualism, it  is  easy  to  see  that  some  regard  must  have 
been  had  to  these  things  in  the  laws  of  marriage.  In 
many  respects  the  Jews  of  that  time  were  but  a  race 
of  semi-barbarous,  half-emancipated  slaves.  Lightfoot  in 
his  commentary  on  this  passage  has  shown  that,  had  it 
not  been  for  the  permission  of  divorce  and  the  legal  forms 
by  which  the  rights  of  the  wife  were  thus  guarded,  she 
might  have  been  summarily  dismissed,  or  exposed  to  the 
most  harsh  and  cruel  treatment,  or  even  to  death  from 
the  violence  of  her  husband. 

8.  Jesus  here  returns  again  to  the  fundamental  principle 
which  existed  before  Moses,  before  Jacob  or  Abraham,  and 
according  to  that  the  law  of  God  was  and  is,  as  he  has 
already  declared  (v.  32),  that  there  shall  be  no  divorce 
except  for  the  one  crime  which  destroys  the  sacredness, 
and  is  therefore  in  fact  a  dissolution,  of  the  marriage  re- 


MATTHEW   XIX.    13-15.  335 

lation.  The  remarkable  thing  here  again  is  the  facility 
with  which  Jesus,  even  in  discussing  rules  of  legislation 
with  the  most  bigoted  adherents  to  the  letter  of  the  law, 
goes  behind  specific  rules,  and  rests  his  doctrine  on  the 
substantial  reality  of  things.  "  Christ  taught,  as  the  men 
of  his  day  remarked,  on  an  authority  very  different  from 
that  of  the  scribes.  Not  even  on  his  own  authority.  He 
did  not  claim  that  his  words  should  be  recognized  because 
he  said  them,  but  because  they  were  true.  '  If  I  say  the 
truth,  why  do  ye  not  believe  me  ? '  "  —  F.  W.  Robertson. 

10  —  12.  The  conversation  which  follows  took  place  (Mark 
X.  10)  in  the  house,  and  was  addressed  particularly  to  the 
disciples.  "  If,"  say  they,  "  the  case  of  a  man  is  so,"  i.  e. 
if  the  law  and  his  liability  under  it  are  such,  "  it  is  better 
for  a  man  not  to  marry."  To  this  remark  of  theirs  Jesus 
assents  with  particular  reference,  we  may  suppose,  to  the 
hardships  and  persecutions  which  his  followers  must  endure 
in  those  times.  Still,  he  adds,  this  rule  of  celibacy  is  not 
one  of  universal  application.  None  but  those  to  whom 
the  power  has  been  given,  11,  are  able  to  bear  it;  and 
of  those  to  whom  it  has  been  given,  some,  12,  are  by 
nature  free  from  the  passions  which  make  a  life  of  con- 
tinence without  marriage  difficult  to  them,  some  by  hard- 
ships and  privations  are  made  so,  while  others  from  their 
own  high  motives  and  convictions  rise  above  the  control 
of  the  passions,  and  cheerfully  put  aside  all  thought  of 
these  domestic  relations  for  the  kingdom  of  Heaven's  sake, 
i.  e.  that  they  may  give  themselves  entirely  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  that  kinjrdom. 


Christ  Blessing  the  Children. 

13-15.  The  beautiful  incident  related  here  and  Mark 
X.  13-16,  of  Jesus,  when  he  took  little  children  into 
his  arms,  and  put  his  hands  upon  them,  and  blessed  them, 
shows  the  relation  which  he  looks  on  them  as  sustaining 


836  MATTHEW    XIX.    16-22. 

towards  himself.  The  disciples  would  have  sent  them 
away  as  too  young  for  his  adoption.  But  with  a  degree 
of  displeasure  which  he  seldom  manifested,  he  commanded 
them  not  to  forbid,  but  to  let  the  little  ones  come  to  him ; 
for,  said  he,  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.  In  saying 
this,  he  used  words  which  are  not  confined  to  those  then 
present,  but  which  reach  forward,  indicating  his  relation 
to  all  little  children,  and  coming,  a  gracious  invitation, 
to  all  parents  and  guardians  who  would  consecrate  their 
children  to  him  by  the  waters  of  Christian  baptism  and 
the  processes  of  Christian  culture.  "  All  gifts  of  God," 
says  Roos,  "  do  not  enter  by  the  understanding  into  the 
soul."     "  Not  only,"    says    Alford,    in   his   notes   on   Mark 

X.  14,  "is   Infant   Baptism  justijied,  but  it  is the 

NORMAL  PATTERN  OF  ALL  BAPTISM ;  nonc  Can  enter 
God's   kingdom   except   as   an   infant.     In   adult   baptism 

we  strive   to  secure   that   state   of  simplicity  and 

childlikeness,  which  in  the  infant  we  have  ready  and  un- 
doubted to  our  hands." 

The  Young  Man  w^ho  came  to  Jesus. 

16-22.  The  young  man  here,  who  was  a  ruler  (Luke 
xviii.  18),  and  who  in  his  eagerness  to  see  Jesus  (Mark 
X.  17)  came  running  to  him,  and  kneeled  before  him,  was 
probably  an  amiable,  well-meaning  young  man,  susceptible 
of  moral  and  religious  impressions,  who  had  carefully  ob- 
served the  rules  of  a  conventional  morality,  and  who, 
not  finding  in  them  the  peace  of  mind  which  he  sought, 
came  to  Jesus  with  the  expectation,  as  Mr.  Norton  has 
said,  that  he  "would  enjoin,  for  instance,  some  unusual 
austerity,  some  long-continued  exercise  of  fasting  and 
prayer,  or  some  peculiar  vow,  or  some  extraordinary  alms- 
giving, or  some  large  gift  to  the  treasury  of  the  temple, 
or  some  other  definite  act  or  course  of  conduct  of  a  like 
character,  by  the  performance  of  which  he  might  assure 


MATTHEW   XIX.    16  -  22.  337 

himself  of  eternal  life."  He  was  probably  sincere,  and, 
as  he  supposed,  very  much  in  earnest.  The  fact  of  his 
using  the  expression  eternal  life,  shows  that  he  was  not 
wholly  superficial  in  his  ideas.  Jesus  in  reply  to  his 
question,  by  the  words,  "  Why  callest  thou  me  good  ? " 
or  rather,  "  Why  askest  thou  me  respecting  what  is  good  ?  " 
"  No  one  is  good,  but  God  alone  "  (Mark  x.  18),  turns  his 
attention  first  of  all  to  the  infinite  Source  of  all  goodness. 
Then,  as  a  practical  test  of  his  fidelity  to  God,  he  says 
to  him,  If  thou  really  desirest  to  enter  into  life,  keep  the 
commandments.  Which  ?  he  asks  in  reply,  and  with  sur- 
prise, as  if  he  had  expected  something  more,  and  doubted 
whether  he  had  not  misapprehended  the  answer.  Jesus 
specifies  the  moral  precepts  of  the  Decalogue.  The  young 
man,  as  if  wondering  and  amazed  at  the  easiness  of  the 
terms,  replies  in  a  tone  which  shows  how  little  he  under- 
stood what  it  was  to  observe  the  commandments  in  their 
thorough  and  spiritual  application,  as  Jesus  had  already 
expounded  them  in  his  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  These, 
he  says,  I  have  always  kept.  But  is  there  not  something 
more  still  wanting?  he  asks,  not  with  self-complacency, 
but  from  a  secret  uneasiness,  and  a  conviction  that  some- 
thing is  still  wanting  to  secure  his  peace.  Jesus,  looking 
upon  him  (Mark  x.  21)  with  an  expression  of  love  as 
he  saw  where  his  weakness  lay,  applied  at  once  the  test 
which  should  reveal  to  him  the  fatal  defect  in  his  charac- 
ter. Yes,  one  thing  is  wanting  (Mark  x.  21),  and  if  thou 
wouldst  be  perfect,  go  and  sell  whatsoever  thou  hast,  and 
give  to  the  poor;  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven, 
and  come,  take  up  the  cross,  and  follow  me.  The  sad- 
ness and  grief  caused  by  these  words  prove  that  the  young 
man  came  to  Jesus,  as  he  believed,  with  an  honest  pur- 
pose ;  but  they  prove  also  that  the  one  essential  condition 
of  discipleship,  the  readiness  to  give  up  everything  at  the 
call  of  duty  and  of  God,  was  lacking,  and  that  this  one 
want  was  undermining  all  his  virtues.  The  one  thing 
29  u 


338  MATTHEW   XIX.    23-26. 

which  he  lacked  was  not,  that  he  did  not  sell  all  his  goods 
and  give  them  to  the  poor,  but  that  there  was  something 
which  he  valued  more  than  his  allegiance  to  God.  The 
outward  test  revealed  the  inward  want,  and  this  inward 
want,  loving  the  things  of  God  less  than  the  things  of 
the  world,  was  the  fatal  defect  which  Jesus  in  thus  bring- 
ing it  to  his  knowledge  would  have  him  supply.  "  It  is 
not  here  commanded,"  says  Clement  of  Alexandria,  "as 
some  readily  receive,  to  cast  away  our  possessions  and 
separate  ourselves  from  them ;  but  to  drive  out  of  the 
soul  its  idea  of  riches,  its  diseased  passion  and  longing 
for  them,  the  anxieties  which  are  the  thoms  tliat  choke 
the  seed  of  hfe."  While  the  words  of  Jesus  revealed  the 
young  man  to  himself,  they  were  also  something  more 
than  a  test.  They  show  what  was  a  necessary  condition 
of  discipleship  in  that  day.  What  could  a  young  man 
do  with  his  riches  then  as  a  follower  of  Jesus  ?  Must 
they  not  have  been  almost  of  necessity  a  fatal  encum- 
brance ?  There  is  nothing  to  show  that  the  condition  was 
to  be  a  general  one.  As  Lord  Bacon  has  said,  "_But 
sell  not  all  thou  hast,  except  thou  come  and  follow  me  ; 
that  is,  except  thou  have  a  vocation,  wherein  thou  may  est 
do  as  much  good,  with  little  means,  as  with  great."  —  Fur- 
ness's  Thoughts,  &c.,  p.  167. 

Hard  for  the  Rich  to  enter  Christ's  Kingdom. 

23-26.  The  words  here  are  suggested  by  the  young 
man  who  went  sorrowfully  away  from  Jesus,  because  he 
had  great  possessions,  and  therefore  apply  primarily  to 
those  who  are  outwardly  rich.  Jesus  looked  on  this  young 
man  as  the  representative  of  a  class,  and  saw  in  him  how 
difficult  it  was  for  those  encumbered  by  wealth  to  give 
themselves  up  entirely  to  him.  For  in  those  days  it 
was  only  by  leaving  all  that  they  could  become  his  follow- 
ers, and  thus  enter  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.     And  at  all 


MATTHEW    XIX.    23-26.  339 

times,  though  not  always  perhaps  to  the  same  extent, 
there  are  pecuhar  temptations  and  perils  connected  with 
the  enjoyment  of  great  wealth,  and  however  shining  the  ex- 
amples of  humble,  self-lbrgetting,  and  self-sacrificing  fidelity 
among  the  rich,  the  Saviour's  words  still  apply,  as  a  fear- 
ful and  needed  admonition,  to  those  who  in  the  midst  of 
their  earthly  abundance  are  in  danger  of  neglecting  the 
higher  wants  and  interests  of  the  soul.  But  the  words 
apply  also  with  a  more  searching  power  to  all,  whether 
rich  or  poor,  who  (Mark  x.  24)  trust  in  riches,  i.  e.  whose 
heart  is  in  them.  They  are  the  opposite  of  the  "poor" 
(Luke  vi.  20)  and  "the  poor  in  spirit"  (Matthew  v.  3). 
The  words  in  their  more  extended  meaning  apply  to  a 
state  of  mind.  In  the  kingdom  of  God,  every  individual, 
being  merely  a  steward  of  God,  and  viewing  himself  as 
such,  has  renounced  all  his  possessions,  and  having  con- 
secrated them  to  God  holds  them  subject  to  his  disposal. 
In  this  sense  the  beggar  may  be  rich,  cleaving  to  his  bit 
of  a  possession,  and  striving  for  more,  wliile  the  possessor 
of  wealth,  renouncing  all,  is  poor.  So  in  the  dangerous 
meaning  of  the  word,  a  man  without  money  may  be  rich, 
when  his  heart  is  enamored  of  his  own  virtues,  genius, 
artistic  tastes,  intellectual  attainments  and  capabilities,  or 
anything  else  which  his  self-love  may  appropriate  as  his 
own.  In  respect  to  all  such  it  may  be  said,  that  it  is 
easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle  than 
for  them  to  enter  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  proverb,  as 
verse  26  proves,  indicates,  not  an  impossibility,  but  a  very 
great  difficulty.  The  amazement  and  consternation  of  the 
disciples  exhibited  by  the  question.  Who  then  shall  be 
saved?  show  how  unprepared  they  were  for  principles  of 
conduct  so  severe.  Jesus  comforts  them  somewhat  by  the 
assurance,  that,  though  this  is  impossible  with  men,  still 
all  things  are  possible  with  God. 


340  MATTHEW   XIX.    27-30. 

27-29.  —  Gaining  by  Renouncing. 

27  -  30.  Peter's  state  of  mind  may  have  been  one  of 
self-complacent  confidence,  when  he  recollects  that  he  and 
his  fellow-disciples  had  given  up  everything,  and  asks  what 
is  to  be  their  reward ;  what  shall  be  to  us  ?  Perhaps, 
after  recovering  a  little  from  the  astonishment  occasioned 
by  the  severity  of  the  doctrine  just  announced,  which  at 
first  had  seemed  to  leave  no  room  for  hope  to  any  one, 
and  recollecting  what  sacrifices  he  and  his  fellow-disciples 
had  made,  his  mind  recurs  to  the  command  in  verse  21, 
and  the  promise  there  of  treasure  in  heaven ;  and  in  a 
sudden  burst  of  feeling,  with  too  keen  an  eye  to  the  re- 
ward, he  exclaims,  Lo!  we  have  left  all  and  followed 
thee ;  how  then  shall  it  be  with  us  ?  or,  what  shall  be 
our  portion  ?  In  order  to  understand  the  reply  of  Jesus, 
we  must  transfer  our  thoughts  into  these  Oriental  forms 
of  speech,  or  translate  them  into  our  more  literal  and 
prosaic  dialect.  In  the  regeneration  may  be  joined  with 
either  branch  of  the  sentence,  but  belongs,  we  think,  rather 
to  the  second  than  the  first.  Verily  I  say  unto  you, 
that  ye  who  have  followed  me,  shall  in  the  regeneration, 
when  the  Son  of  man  sits  upon  his  throne,  also  sit  on 
twelve  thrones  judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel ;  i.  e. 
in  the  new  order  of  things  which  shall  prevail  when  my 
religion  is  established,  and  I  shall  rule  among  men,  then 
shall  ye  also  who  have  followed  me  now  rule  with  me 
as  my  representatives  in  the  advancement  of  my  king- 
dom, i.  e.  of  my  religion,  through  the  world.  He  may 
possibly  allude  here,  as  in  xvi.  28,  to  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  as  the  decisive  moment  when  the  old  religion 
shall  be  overthrown,  and  the  new  established  in  its  place, 
with  a  glance  forward  to  yet  higher  scenes  of  kingly  gloiy. 
In  verse  29,  the  thought  is  carried  into  the  future  world 
with  greater  distinctness.  All  who  have  made  sacrifices 
on  my  account  shall  (Mark  x.  30)   receive  an  hundred- 


MATTHEW   XIX.  841 

fold  now  in  this  time,  houses,  and  brethren,  and  sisters, 
and  mothers,  and  children,  and  lands  with  persecutions, 
and  in  the  world  to  come,  eternal  life.  But  how  can 
they  receive  in  brothers,  sisters,  and  mothers,  an  hundred- 
fold ?  We  must  look  for  a  deeper  meaning  than  that 
which  lies  upon  the  surface.  As  a  man  abounding  in 
wealth  is  in  the  best  and  spiritual  sense  of  the  word  poor, 
if  his  heart  is  not  bound  up  in  his  riches  ;  as  in  the  bad 
sense  of  the  word  he  is  rich  who  in  the  midst  of  his 
poverty  clings  with  all  his  heart  to  the  little  which  he 
has  and  lusts  for  more ;  so  do  we  in  a  still  different  sense, 
really  receive,  not  in  proportion  to  what  we  outwardly 
possess,  but  in  proportion  to  what  we  are  able  to  appro- 
priate and  enjoy.  They  therefore  whose  souls  are  born 
into  the  higher  life  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  shall,  in 
their  renovated  affections,  desires,  and  powers  of  thought 
and  emotion,  enjoy  an  hundred-fold  more  than  before  even 
here  in  their  houses,  fields,  and  friends.  To  them  alone 
can  it  be  said  now  in  this  present  time,  "All  things  are 
yours"  (1  Cor.  iii,  21),  while  in  the  world  to  come  they 
shall  inherit  eternal  life. 


NOTES. 

And  It  came  to  pass,  that,  when  Jesus  had  finished  these 
sayings,  he  departed  from  Galilee,  and  came  into  the  coasts  of 
2  Judaea,  beyond  Jordan.     And  great  multitudes  followed  him  ; 
and  he  healed  them  there. 


1.   When  Jesus  had  finished  yond  Jordan,"  which  would  allow 

these  sayings]     These  words  in-  though   it    does   not   oblige  us   to 

dicate  a  connection  and  complete-  suppose  that  Jesus  was   employed 

ness  in  what  he  had  been  saying  in  at  that  time  on  both  sides  of  the 

the  previous  chapter.  Jordan.  Jordan]     the 

into  the  coasts  of  Judaea,  be-  Jordan.     Our  translators  evidently 

yond  Jordan]     Mark  (x.  1)  says,  did  not  understand  the  use  of  tlie 

"  Into  the  coasts  of  Judjea,  and  be-  definite  article  in  Greek.    Accord- 
29* 


342 


MATTHEW   XIX. 


The  Pharisees  also  came  unto  him,  tempting  him,  and  say-  3 
ing  unto  him,  Is  it  lawful  for  a  man  to  put  away  his  wife  for 
every  cause  ?     And  he  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Have  4 
ye  not  read,  that  he,  which  made  them  at  the  beginning,  made 
them   male   and  female  ;    and  said,  "  For   this  cause  shall  a  5 
man  leave  father  and  mother,  and  shall  cleave  to  his  wife  ;  and 
they  twain  shall  be  one  flesh  "  ?     Wherefore  they  are  no  more  6 
twain,  but  one  flesh.     What,  therefore,  God  hath  joined  to- 


ing  to  Bengel  and  Winer,  the  highest 
authorities  on  this  subject,  "  there 
is  scarcely  an  instance  in  the  Scrip- 
tures where  tlie  article  is  redun- 
dant," and  it  is  "  utterly  impossible 
that  the  article  should  be  omitted 
where  it  is  decidedly  necessary,  or 
employed  where  it  is  quite  super- 
fluous." "  Opos  can  never  denote 
the  mountain,  nor  to  opos  a  raoun- 
tainJ'''  Yet  this  distinction  is  con- 
stantly overlooked  in  our  English 
version.  Often,  as  in  the  case  here, 
the  omission  of  the  article  is  of  little 
consequence;  but  usually  it  implies 
something  which  adds  to  the  life- 
like character  of  the  expression. 
In  Matt.  V.  1,  it  is  quite  a  different 
thing  to  say,  as  it  is  in  the  Greek, 
"  he  went  up  into  the  mountain," 
from  what  it  is  to  say,  as  in  our 
version,  "  he  went  up  into  a  moun- 
tain." "  Ye  call  me  the  Master,  and 
the  Lord;  and  ye  say  well,"  (John 
xiii.  13,)  is  much  more  forcible  and 
graphic  than  with  the  omission  of 
the  article  as  in  our  version.  So 
in  Matt,  xviii.  17,  "  Let  him  be  to 
thee  as  the  (not  a)  heathen  man  and 
the  publican;"  in  John  iii.  10,  "Art 
thou  the  (not  a)  Master  of  Israel,  and 
knowest  not  these  things;"  Matt, 
xxvi.  26,  "And  as  they  were  eating, 
Jesus  took  the  bread,"'^i.  e.  the  bread 
which,  had  been  specially  provided 
for  the  purpose,  just  as  in  the  fol- 
lowing verse  he  took  "  the  cup ; " 
John  i.  21,  "Art  thou  Oie  Prophet?" 
i.  e.  the  prophet  predicted  by  Moses 
and  expected  as  the  Messiah,  not 
as  in  our  version,  '■'■that  prophet;" 
Matt.  1.  23,  "  Behold,  the  virgin  shall 
conceive,"  not  a  virgin;  Matt.  xli. 
35,  '■'■The  (not  a)  good  man,  out  of 
tlie  good  treasure  of  the  heart,  bring- 


eth  forth  good  things;  and  (he  (not 
an)  evil  man,"  »S:c. ;  Matt.  xiii.  3, 
'■'■The  (not  a)  sower  went  forth  to 
sow,"  i.  e.  the  Son  of  man  ;  John 
xiii.  5,  "  He  poureth  water  into  the 
(not  a)  basin,"  that  usually  stood 
there  for  use.  These  matters  are 
not  of  great  importance,  but  the 
use  of  the  article  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament well  deserves  the  attention 
of  the  critical  student. 
3.  for  every  cause]  upon  every 
jjretence.  Josephus  gives  this  sense 
to  the  law,  and  owns  that  he  di- 
vorced his  wife,  "  not  being  pleased 
with  her  manners  and  behavior." 
Antiq.  IV.  5.  And  said] 

And  he  said,  i.  e.  Jesus  said,  using 
the  words  to  be  found  in  Gen.  ii. 
24.  and  they  twain 

shall  be  one  flesh]  Here  is  de- 
scribed the  peculiarity  of  the  mar- 
riage relation,  that  which  distin- 
guishes it  from  all  other  relations 
of  interest  or  friendship.  "  They 
are  two,"  says  Stier,  "  and  yet  no 
longer  two:  this  is,  in  the  shortest 
and  profoundest  expression,  the 
mystery  of  marriage,  the  great  rhys- 
tery  whose  further  typical  signifi- 
cance the  Apostle  Paul  opens  to  us 
in  Eph.  V.  31,  32.  The  bodily  fel- 
lowship is  not  merely  the  basis  of 
marriage,  but  also  that  which  is 
alone  essential  to  it,  which  may 
indeed,  and  in  a  cei'tain  sense, 
should  be  sweetened  and  glorified 
by  friendship  of  soul,  being  super- 
added to  it,  but  Avhicli  subsists  as 
marriage  apart  from  that."  "  This 
bodily  union,"  says  Olshausen, 
"  when  it  is  founded  on  an  ante- 
cedent combination  of  soul  and 
spirit,  is  the  very  summit  and  flower 
of  all  union  and  commuuiou,  and 


MATTHEW    XIX. 


343 


7  gether,  let  no  man  put  asunder. They  say  unto  him,  "VYhy 

did  Moses,  then,  command  to  give  a  writing  of  divorcement 

8  and  to  put  her  away  ?  He  saith  unto  them,  Moses,  because 
of  the  hardness  of  your  hearts,  suffered  you  to  put  away  your 

9  wives  ;  but  from  the  beginning  it  was  not  so.  And  I  say  unto 
you,  whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  except  it  be  for  fornica- 
tion, and  shall  marry  another,  committeth  adultery  ;  and  whoso 

10  marrieth  her  which  is  put  away  doth  commit  adultery. His 

disciples  say  unto  him,  If  the  case  of  the  man  be  so  with  his 

11  wife,  it  is  not  good  to  marry.     But  he  said  unto  them,  All  men 

12  cannot  receive  this  sajdng,  save  they  to  whom  it  is  given.  For 
there  are  some  eunuchs,  which  were  so  born  from  their  moth- 
er's womb ;  and  there  are  some  eunuchs,  which  were  made 
eunuchs  of  men ;  and  there  be  eunuchs,  which  have  made 
themselves  eunuchs  for  the  kingdom  of  Heaven's  sake.  He 
that  is  able  to  receive  it,  let  him  receive  it. 

13  Then  were  there  brought  unto  him  little  children,  that  he 
should  put  his  hands  on  them,  and  pray  ;  and  the  disciples  re- 


fer this  verv  reason  forms  the  con- 
dition of  the  continuance  of  tlie 
whole  human  race.  It  is  owing  to 
the  holy  nature  of  this  bodily  union 
that  it  is  to  be  considered  indisso- 
luble, as  one  which  man  cannot, 
and  which  only  God  can  dissever." 
9.  And  Avhoso  mar- 
rieth her  which  is  put  away 
doth  commit  adultery]  The 
point  of  this  prohibition  is  brought 
out  by  the  way  in  which  .Tosephus 
expounds  the  Jewish  law  of  divorce. 
"  He  that  desires  to  be  divorced," 
he  says,  "  for  any  cause  whatso- 
ever, (and  many  such  causes  happen 
among  men,)  let  him  in  Avriting  give 
assurance  that  he  will  never  use  her 
as  his  wife  any  more;  for  by  this 
means  she  may  be  at  liberty  to 
marry  another'  husband."  This 
temptation  to  be  divorced  in  order 
to  marry  again  Jesus  cuts  off  by  his 
severe  prohibition.  By  every  pos- 
sible means  he  would  make  the 
marriage  union  inviolable  and  in- 
dissoluble. By  the  finer  affections 
which  he  Avould  cherish  in  human 
hearts,  by  the  purer  morals  flowing 
out  from  righteous  aftections,  by 
more  delicate   and   generous  acts, 


by  the  sanctities  of  heaven  thrown 
over  the  marriage  tie  and  all  the 
domestic  relations,  he  would  make 
a  Christian  home  more  sacred  and 
endearing  in  its  relations  than  any 
other  home  had  ever  been,  hi  this 
as  in  other  things  the  world,  even 
the  Christian  woiid,  though  slowly 
rising  towards  his  idea,  is  still  far  be- 
low it.  Lawgivers  still  and  perhaps 
necessarily  allow  his  precepts  to  be 
violated  on  account  of  the  hardness 
of  men's  hearts  and  the  low  state  of 
morals  among  them. 
12.  He  that  is  able  to  receive 
it,  let  him  receive  it]  Jesus 
makes  allow<ince  for  differences  of 
temperament  and  constitution.  He 
does  not  ask  the  same  things  of  all. 
Though  he  requires  self-renuncia- 
tion in  all  his  followers,  he  does  not 
require  that  all  shall  show  it  by  the 
same  acts.  13.  And  the 

disciples  rebuked  them]  Re- 
buked not  the  children,  but  those 
who  were  bringing  them. 
But  the  disciples]  "  The  greater 
part  of  whom,"  says  Bengel,  "  ap- 
pear to  have  been  umuarried:  and 
unmarried  men,'  unless  they  are 
humble-miuded,  are  not  so  kind  to 


3M 


MATTHEW    XIX. 


buked  them.     But  Jesus  said,   Suffei-  little  children,  and  for-  u 
bid  them  not,  to  come  unto  me  ;  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom 
of  Heaven.     And   he  laid  his  hands  on  them,  and  departed  is 
thence. 

And,  behold,  one  came  and  said  unto  him,  Good  Master,  i6 
what  good  thing  shall  I  do,  that  I  may  have  eternal  life  ?     And  n 
he  said  unto  hkn,  Why  callest  thou  me  good  ?  there  is  none 
good  but  one,  that  is,  God.     But  if  thou  wilt  enter  into  life, 
keep  the  commandments.     He  saith  unto  hun.  Which  ?     Jesus  is 
said,   "  Thou   shalt   do   no  murder ;    Thou  shalt   not   commit 
adultery ;   Thou  shalt  not  steal ;    Thou  shalt  not  bear  false 
witness ;    Honor   thy  father  and  thy  mother ; "    and,  "  Thou  19 
shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."     The  young  man  saith  unto  20 


infants."  14.  Suffer  little 

children]  Suffer  the  little  children, 
—  the  little  ones  to  come  to  me.  Bet- 
ter as  in  the  original  Avitli  tlie  article. 
Jesus  has  just  been  defending  the 
law  of  marriage.  Here,  as  a  branch 
of  the  same  subject,  he  is  upholding 
the  claims  of  children,  by  rebuking 
those  who  Avould  keep  them  from 
him,  and  by  taking  them  into  his 
anus,  laying  his  hands  upon  them, 
and  blessing  them. 
for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven]  There  is  nothing  more 
beautiful  m  the  New  Testament 
than  the  relation  of  Jesus  to  little 
children  and  his  sympathy  Avith 
them.  What  do  words  like  these 
teach  in  regard  to  them?  If  his 
kingdom  is  made  up  of  those  Avho 
are  like  them,  what  shall  we  say 
of  them,  and  of  the  doctrine  of  in- 
nate depravity?  That  doctrine  is 
found  in  metaphysical  systems  of 
divinity,  but  nowhere  is  it  taught 
or  indicated  by  the  words  or  the 
acts  of  Jesus.  An  hereditary  lia- 
bility to  sin,  coming  out  with  the 
development  of  our  natures,  and 
showing  itself  in  times  of  tempta- 
tion, we  all  of  us  may  feel,  and 
should  be  constantly  on  our  guai-d 
against.  "  Not,"  says  Richter,  "  the 
children  must  become  as  you,  but 
vice  versa,  you  must  become  as  the 
children."  "  If  we  have  to  do  with 
men,  then  the  nile  is,  Be  no  child; 
trust,  look  to  —  whom  V    But  if  we 


have  to  do  with  God,  then  it  cannot 
often  enough  be  repeated:  Be  only 
a  child,  —  follow  the  call,  trast  to 
the  promise,  take  the  gift,  obey  the 
word,  all  as  if  thou  didst  let  thyself 
be  lifted,  carried,  comforted,  bless- 
ed." Slier.  16.  eternal 
life]  This  expression  occurs  here 
and  in  the  corresponding  passages 
in  Mark  and  Luke  for  the  first  time. 
It  is  used  at  v.  29  of  this  chapter, 
Luke  xviii.  30,  and  only  once  again, 
XXV.  46,  in  the  first  three  Gospels. 
It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  the  precise 
meaning  in  which  it  is  used  by  the 
young  man,  though  it  undoubtedly 
is  intended  to  denote  a  future  state 
of  blessedness.  17.  Why 
callest  thou  me  good  ?]  Accord- 
ing to  Tischendorf,  •  the  reading 
should  be,  Mliy  askesi  thou  me  re- 
specting the  good?  One  is  good:  but 
if  thou  tvishest,  ifc.  This  agrees  with 
the  reading  in  the  Curetonian  S^Tiao 
Gospels.  One  is  good.  One  only  is 
good  in  the  absolute  sense  of  the 
word,  uniting  in  himself  all  perfec- 
tions. The  natural  inference  from 
this  language  of  Jesus,  is  that  by  it 
he  meant  to  disclaim  for  himself 
this  absolute  goodness,  which  ex- 
cludes, not  only  all  sin,  but  the  pos- 
sibility of  being  tempted.  "■'  For 
God  cannot  be  tempted  with  evil." 
(James  i.  13.)  "  Then  was  Jesus 
led  Tip  of  the  spirit  into  the  wilder- 
ness to  be  tempted  of  the  devil." 
(Matt.  iv.  1.)    "  For  iu  that  he  him- 


MATTHEW   XIX. 


345 


him,  All  these  things  have  I  kept  from  my  youth  up ;  what 

21  lack  I  yet  ?     Jesus  said  unto  him,  If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go 
and  sell  that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor ;  and  thou  shalt 

22  have  treasure  in  heaven ;  and  come  and  follow  me.     But  when 
the  young  man  heard  that  saying,  he  went  away  sorrowful ; 

23  for   he  had  great  possessions. Then  said  Jesus  unto  his 

-     disciples,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  a  rich  man  shall  hardly 

24  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.    And  again  I  say  unto  you, 
It  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle,  than 

25  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.     When  his 
disciples   heard   it,   they   were    exceedingly   amazed,    saying, 

26  Who  then  can  be  saved  ?     But  Jesus  beheld  them,  and  said 
unto  them.  With  men  this   is   impossible ;   but  with    God   all 

27  things  are  possible. Then  answered  Peter,  and  said  unto 

him.  Behold,  we  have  forsaken  all  and  followed  thee ;  what 

28  shall  we  have  therefore  ?     And  Jesus  said  unto  them,  Verily 


self  hath  suffered  being  tempted,  he 
is  able  to  succor  them  that  are 
tempted."  (Heb.  ii.  18.) 
20.  from  my  youth  up]  These 
words  are  omitted  by  Tischendorf 
as  not  contained  in  the  best  manu- 
scripts. The  omission  is  an  im- 
provement in  the  passage.  It  is  a 
little  harsh  to  write,  The  young 
man,  6  veauiaKos  —  the  youth  — 
said,  All  these  have  I  kept  from 
my  youth  up,  ex  veoTijTos  fiov. 
21.  ^o  and  sell  that 
thou  hast]  "  It  is  a  command, 
not  a  counsel;  necessary,  not  op- 
tional ;  but  particular,  not  univei'sal, 
accommodated  to  the  idiosyncrasy 
of  his  soul,  to  whom  it  was  ad- 
dressed. For  manj^  followed  Jesus 
to  whom  he  did  not  give  this  com- 
mand. He  may  be  perfect,  who 
still  possesses  wealth;  he  may  give 
all  to  the  poor,  who  is  very  far  from 
perfection.  Our  Lord's  words  laid 
ail  obligation  on  the  man  who  offer- 
ed himself  of  his  own  accord,  and 
that  so  unreservedly.  If  the  Lord 
had  said,  Thou  art  rich,  and  art  too 
fond  of  thy  riches,  the  young  man 
would  have  denied  it ;  wherefore, 
instead  of  so  doing,  he  demands 
immediately  a  direct  proof."  Ben- 
geL  22.  soii'owful]    be- 


cause he  could  not  keep  his  gi-eat 
possessions,  and  at  the  same  time 
follow  Christ.  These  divided  affec- 
tions are  always  a  source  of  anxiety 
and  sorrow.  23.  hardly] 

tcith  difficulty.  They  are  too  much 
taken  up  with  present  comforts  to 
think  of  better  things;  but  if,  as  in 
this  case  they  think  of  them  and 
really  desire  to  possess  them,  they 
are  too  much  attached  to  their 
present  comforts  and  possessions  to 
make  the  needed  sacrifice. 

24.  easier  for  a  camel]  The 
similar  proverb  of  the  elephant  is 
said  to  be  familiar  in  the  Koran 
and  the  Talmud.  "  Perhaps  thou 
art  one  of  those  who  can  make  an 
elephant  go  through  the  eye  of  a 
needle."  The  substitution  which 
is  sometimes  proposed  of  Ka/xtXoi/, 
meaning  a  cable,  for  Kdjxr}Kov,  a 
camel,  —  camilon  for  camelon,  —  is 
entirely  without  authority. 

2G.'with  God  all  things  are 
possible]  So  Mark  ix.  23,  All 
things  are  possible  to  him  that  be- 
heveth.  27.   forsaken 

all]  .  *'  The  all  which  the  Apostles 
had  left  was  not  in  all  cases  con- 
temptible. The  sons  of  Zebedee  had 
hired  servants  ( Mark  i.  20),  and  Levi 
( Matthew)  could  give  a  great  feast  in 


346 


MATTHEW    XIX. 


I  say  unto  you,  that  ye  which  have  followed  me  in  the  regenera- 
tion, when  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  in  the  throne  of  his  glory, 
ye  also  shall  sit  upon  twelve  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes 
of  Israel.     And  every  one  that  hath  forsaken  houses,  or  breth-  29 


his  house.     But  whatever  it  was,  it 
was  their  alV     Alford.  28. 

ilk  the  regeneration]  As  the  king- 
dom of  Heaven  is  used  to  express  the 
condition  of  a  Christian  individual, 
of  the  Christian  commonwealth,  and 
of  the  redeemed  above  (xvi.  27,  28), 
so  regeneration,  being  born  again, 
refei-s  to  the  act  by  which  the  indi- 
vidual soul,  or  the  Christian  com- 
munity, are  bom  into  the  kingdom 
of  Heaven.  Among  the  Stoics  this 
word  expressed  the  periodic  reno- 
vation of  the  earth  when  in  the 
spring  it  revived  from  its  winter 
death.  Josephus  (Antiq.  XI.  3.  9) 
speaks  of  the  restoration  of  the  Jews 
after  the  Captivity  as  ''  the  regain- 
ing and  regeneration  of  the  coun- 
try." The  word  is  used  only  twice 
in  the  New  Testament.  In  Titus  iii. 
5,  it  plainly  i-efers  to  the  new  birth 
of  the  individual,  when  it  is  awak- 
ened to  the  higher  thought  and  life 
of  the  Gospel.  In  the  passage  before 
us  it  refers  to  the  same  newness  of 
life  in  its  more  extended  influence 
among  men,  Avhether  on  earth  or  in 
heaven.  "  The  first  seat  of  the  re- 
generation is  the  soul  of  man ;  but, 
beginning  there,  and  establishing  its 
centre  there,  it  extends  in  ever  wi- 
dening circles."  "  Man  is  the  pres- 
ent subject  of  the  regeneration, 
and  of  the  wondrous  transforma- 
tion which  it  implies;  but  in  that 
day  it  will  have  included  Avithin  its 
limits  the  whole  world  of  which 
man  is  the  central  figure ;  and  here 
is  the  reconciliation  of  the  two  pas- 
sages, in  one  of  which  it  is  spoken 
of  as  pertaining  to  the  single  soul, 
in  the  other  to  the  whole  redeemed 
creation."  Trench's  Svnonymes  of 
the  New  Testtmient.  In  the  reyen- 
eration  is  certainly  to  be  joined  with 
the  second,  and  not,  as  in' our  llibles, 
with  the  first,  clause  of  the  sentence. 
when  tlie  Sou  of  man 
shall  sit  in  the  throne  of  his 
glory,  ye  also  shall  sit  upon 
twelve    thrones,  judging    the 


twelve  tribes  of  Israel]      The 

religion  of  Jesus  is  the  kingdom  of 
Beaven ;  where  it  comes,  the  Son  of  ■■ 
man  comes  in  his  kingdom ;  where 
it  prevails,  as  it  does  in  the  thorough 
regeneration  of  the  soul  or  of  the 
race,  there  he,  as  the  head  of  the 
new  dispensation,  is  said  to  come 
in  his  glory,  to  reign  or  to  sit  upon 
the  throne'  of  his  glory,  and  there, 
he  now  declares,  the  Apostles  shall 
be  associated  with  him,  sitting  on 
twelve  thrones,  and  thus  under  hira 
sharing  the  regal  influence  and  au- 
thority Avhich  he  is  exercising  over 
the  souls  of  men,  whether  iu  this 
world  or  the  world  to  come.  Dr. 
Palfrey,  in  his  Eelation  between 
Judaism  and  Christianity,  pp.  98,  99, 
has  well  explained  this  passage: 
"  As,  adopting  the  phraseology  in 
Daniel  (vii.  13,  14),  Jesus  calls  his 
establisliment  in  a  moral  dominion, 
a  sitting  upon  '  the  throne  of  his 
glory,'  so  he  tells  his  Apostles,  who 
were  to  be  the  agents  and  repre- 
sentatives of  his  spiritual  adminis- 
tration, that  they  too  shall  sit  on 
thrones.  And  the  figure  is  still 
further  carried  out.  There  were  as 
many  Apostles  as  there  had  been 
Jewish  tribes ;  and  this  coincidence 
is  brought  to  view  in  the  language 
in  which  they  are  told  that  thev  are 
to  have  spiritual  rule  over  6od's 
people.  The  word  judge  here,  as 
often  in  Scriptiire  (comp.  1  Sam. 
viii.  5,  Isa.  xl.  23),  means  simply  to 
govern,  to  exercise  sway;  not  to  ad- 
minister law,  but  to  give,  to  promul- 
gjite  it,  Avhich  latter  function  be- 
longed strictly  to  the  Apostolic  oflfice. 
The  twelve  Aiwstles  together  were 
to  give  law  to  collective  Israel. 
Nothing  is  said  of  any  such  distri- 
bution of  poAver  as  that  each  Apos- 
tle should  have  a  tribe  for  his  sep- 
arate j'urisdiction.  One  name  of 
Israel  regarded  collectively  Avas  the 
ticdve  tribes,  or  the  twelve -tribed  na- 
tion. (Comp.  Acts  xxvi.  7.)"  The 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel  mean  here  the 


MATTHEW   XIX. 


347 


ren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children,  or 
lands,  for  my  name's  sake,  shall  receive  an  hundred-fold,  and 

30  shall  inherit  everlasting  life. But  many  that  are  fii'st  shall 

be  last ;  and  the  last  shall  be  firet. 


people  of  God.  When  the  Son  of 
man  shall  sit  (active  voice)  on  his 
throne  (genitive  ^ase),  ye  shall  sit 
(middle  voice)  on  twelve  thrones 
(accusative).  Greek  scholars  who 
are  curious  about  such  things  have 
supposed  that  they  saw  in  these  nice 
distinctions  of  language  an  intima- 
tion of  the  diflerent  kinds  or  degrees 
of  power  which  Jesus  and  the  Apos- 
tles were  respectively  to  exercise. 
When  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit,  the 
active  form  expressing  the  act  ab- 
solutely, united  with  the  genitive, 
on  his  ylurious  tlirone,  as  the  case 
denoting  source  or  cause,  the  whole 
expression  may  seem  to  represent 
him  as  sitting  independently  on  his 
throne,  while  the  middle  voice  with 
something  of  a  passive  signification 
and  the  accusative  case,  the  case  of 
direct  limitation,  give  in  respect  to 
the  Apostles  the  idea  of  a  more  lim- 
ited and  dependent  authority.  This 
distinction  is  indicated  by  Stier  and 
Alford.  But  it  will  not"  do  to  lay 
any  stress  on  these  nice  distinctions 
of  language,  for  such  delicate  shad- 
ings of  expression  may  be  turned  in 
almost  any  direction  by  a  foncifift 
or  ingenious  mind.  The  distinction 
here  suggested  may  have  been  in 
the  writer's  mind."  But  in  Luke 
xxii.  30,  ye  shall  sit  on  thrones, 
thrones  is  in  the  genitive,  and  in 
Rev.  iv.  2,  where  God  is  repx-e- 
sented  as  sitting  on  his  throne,  sit- 
ting is  put  in  the  middle  voice, 
and  throne  in  the  accusative  case. 
While  the  pi*eposition  remains  the 
same,  the  genitive,  dative,  and 
accusative  cases  are  used  indis- 
criminatelv  (Rev.  iv.  9,  10  ;  v. 
13;  vi.  16;  vii.  10;  xi.  16). 
ye  shall  sit  on  twelve  thrones] 
Figures  of  speecli  in  the  oriental 
languages  are  carried  out  more  mi- 


nutely than  Avith  us.  Where  we 
should  say,  "  I  am  exposed  to  death 
among  those  who  are  like  enraged 
lions,"  David  in  a  far  more  pictur- 
esque and  expressive  way  says: 
"My  soul  is  among  lions:  and  I 
lie  even  among  them  that  are  set 
on  fire,  even  the  sons  of  men,  whose 
teeth  are  spear  and  arrows,  and 
their  tongue  a  sharp  sword."  (Ps. 
Ivii.  44.)  No  one  thinks  of  con- 
struing -this  literally.  Where  we 
might  describe  the  great  and  terri- 
ble calamities  impending  over  a  na- 
tion as  a  dark  and  tempestuous 
night  overwhelming  the  land  and 
shutting  out  the  light  of  heaven, 
our  Saviour  in  accordance  with 
modes  of  expression  natural  to  the 
p]ast,  and  perfectly  well  understood 
as  figurative,  says :  "  Immediately 
after  the  tribulation  of  those  days 
shall  the  sun  be  darkened,  and  the 
moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and 
the  stars  shall  fall  from  heaven,  and 
the  powers  of  the  heavens  shall  be 
shaken."  (Matt.  xxiv.  29.)  So  in 
the  passage  before  us,  where  we 
might  say,  Li  the  new  order  of 
things  they  shall  be  united  with 
him  in  his  reign  over  the  saints  in 
glory,  Jesus,  in  language  far  more 
impiressive  and  august,  but  not  lit- 
eral, says,  "  In  the  regeneration, 
when  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  in 
the  throne  of  his  glory,  ye  also  shall 
sit  upon  twelve  thrones,  judging  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel."  In  this 
way  he  sets  before  them  their  fu- 
tui-e  condition  of  honor  and  gi-eat- 
ness  connected  with  the  thought  of 
the  more  than  regal  influence  which 
they,  as  his  representatives  and 
Apostles,  are  to  exercise  in  advan- 
cing and  establishing  his  kingdom 
among  men,  and  thus  ruling  over 
them. 


348  MATTHEW    XX.    1-16. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

1-16.  —  The  Laborers  in  the  Vineyard. 

1-16.  This  has  seemed  to  us  the  most  difficult  of  all  the 
parables.  Its  precise  relation  to  what  goes  before  it  is  ob- 
scure, and  it  is  quite  impossible  to  show  the  precise  bearing 
of  all  the  incidents,  whatever  explanation  may  be  adopted. 
It  is  much  easier  to  overthrow  any  one  of  the  many  inter- 
pretations which  have  been  given,  than  to  supply  its  place 
by  another  which  is  altogether  satisfactory.  Some,  accord- 
ing to  Trench,  regarding  the  equal  penny  to  all  as  the  key 
to  the  parable,  say  that  the  lesson  here  taught  is  the  equal- 
ity of  rewards  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  Others  make,  not 
the  equal  penny,  but  the  successive  hours  at  which  the 
laborers  are  called,  the  prominent  lesson  of  the  parable. 
Some  of  these,  as  Origen  and  Hilary,  suppose  the  different 
hours  apply  to  Adam,  Noah,  Abraham,  Moses,  and  lastly  to 
the  Apostles ;  others,  that  they  apply  first  to  the  Jews  and 
then  to  the  Gentiles ;  while  others  suppose  that  they  apply 
to  the  different  periods  of  life  at  which  the  laborers  enter  on 
the  work  of  the  Lord.  Luther,  as  quoted  by  Stier,  says, 
"If  we  would  interpret  strictly,  we  must  understand  the 
penny  of  the  temporal  good,  and  the  favor  of  the  house- 
holder of  the  eternal  good,"  and  he  sees  quite  clearly  that 
the  murmuring  laborers  trot  away  with  their  penny  and  are 
damned."  Stier  assents  to  this,  and  asserts  that  "  the  penny- 
is  certainly  a  temporal  good,  different  from  eternal  life,  only 
not  of  a  mere  outward  and  earthly  nature,"  "  the  promise 
(1  Tim.  iv.  8)  of  the  life  that  now  is."  Alford  thinks  the 
salient  point  of  the  parable  to  be,  that  "  the  kingdom  of  God 


MATTHEW    XX.    1  -  16.  349 

is  of  grace,  and  not  of  debt ;  that  they  who  were  called  first 
and  have  labored  longest  have  no  more  claim  upon  God 
than  those  who  were  called  last."  Its  primary  application, 
he  thinks,  is  to  the  Apostles  who  had  asked  the  question ; 
and  its  secondary  applications  "  to  all  those  to  whom  such 
a  comparison  of  first  or  last  called,  will  apply,"  nationally  to 
the  Jews,  individually  to  those  whose  call  has  been  in  early 
life,  as  well  as  to  those  who  are  first  in  point  of  talents, 
labor,"  &c.  Mr.  Livermore,  in  a  few  clear  and  truthful 
words,  gives  the  immediate  application  of  the  parable. 
"  Peter,"  he  says,  "  had  inquired  respecting  the  rewards  of 
discipleship.  The  Saviour  replies,  that  the  Apostles  would 
attain  the  highest  honors,  next  to  himself,  and  that  all  other 
disciples  would  receive  abundant  rewards,  both  in  this  life, 
and  in  that  which  is  to  come.  But,  he  adds,  do  not  suppose 
that  the  earlier  converts  under  the  Gospel  dispensation  will 
on  that  account  be  any  more  meritorious,  or  better  rewarded, 
than  those,  who,  being  called  later,  manifest  an  equal  fidel^ 
ity  and  zeal."  "The  first  as  to  time  and  privileges,  may 
become  inferior  to  the  last,  and  the  last  become  first.'* 

In  order  to  understand  the  parable,  we  must  consider 
carefully  its  surroundings  and  the  relation  in  which  it  stands 
to  them.  The  words  (xix.  30,  and  xx.  16)  with  which  it 
is  introduced  and  ended  are  so  closely  connected  with  it, 
that  it  plainly  must  be  interpreted  so  as  to  be  an  illustration 
of  them.  Peter  (xix.  27)  asks,  "What  shall  we  have?" 
Jesus  in  the  two  following  verses  answers  the  question,  and 
then  answers  the  state  of  mind  which  had  prompted  the 
question,  and  which  he  evidently  intended  to  rebuke.  "  Ye, 
and  all  who  have  made  such  sacrifices  for  me,  shall  indeed 
be  rewarded.  But  while  you  seem  to  yourselves  thus 
worthy  of  honor  and  reward,  it  is  well  for  you  to  remember 
that  many  who  are  first  shall  be  last,  if  in  looking  too  much 
to  their  reward  they  allow  in  themselves  a  wrong  dispo- 
sition and  temper  of  mind."  To  illustrate  this  characteristic 
of  his  kingdom,  by  which  the  first  are  often  made  last,  and 

30 


S50  MATTHEW   XX.    1-16. 

the  last  first,  he  relates  a  storj  of  a  householder,  who  in 
the  morning  engaged  laborers  for  a  specific  sum,  and  after- 
wards at  different  hours  of  the  day  engaged  also  other 
laborers  to  go  into  his  vineyard  without  any  agreement  as 
to  the  exact  sum  which  they  were  to  receive.  Wlien  the 
day  was  ended,  the  laborers  were  called  together,  and  those 
who  came  last  received  each  one  a  penny,  which  was  all 
that  had  been  promised  to  those  who  came  first.  The  self- 
ish feelings  of  those  who  had  labored  all  the  day  were 
excited ;  they  expected  for  themselves  a  larger  reward  than 
had  been  agreed  upon ;  and  began  to  murmur  because  it 
was  not  given  to  them.  Because  of  the  envious,  complain- 
ing spirit  which  they  thus  showed,  they  were  rebuked  and 
sent  away  with  their  penny,  while  the  master  evidently 
looked  with  more  favor  on  those  who  had  modestly  received 
his  bounty.  "  So,"  Jesus  adds,  repeating  emphatically  under 
a  different  form  the  expression  with  which  the  parable  had 
been  introduced,  — "  so  the  last  shall  be  first  and  the  first 
last."  The  outward  distinctions  which  come  from  time, 
birth,  talent,  or  labors,  and  which  are  most  apparent  among 
men,  must  in  the  reckoning  at  the  end  give  way  to  the 
higher  distinctions  which  rest  on  the  condition  of  the  mind 
and  character ;  so  that  often  they  who  are  first  in  time,  office, 
gifts,  accomplishments,  or  even  the  length  and  apparent 
usefulness  of  their  labors,  shall  in  the  disclosures  of  that 
hour  be  found  worthy  only  of  a  subordinate  place,  while 
others  who  were  the  least  thought  of  here  and  who  thought 
the  least  of  their  own  merits,  shall  then  be  found  among 
the  first. 

But  what  construction  is  to  be  put  upon  the  equal  penny 
which  every  one  received?  It  will  not  do  to  insist  upon 
pressing  every  minor  circumstance  of  a  parable  into  the 
interpretation.  But  in  this  case  the  equality  of  the  wages 
is  brought  forward  so  prominently  that  it  can  hardly  be 
overlooked.  All  who  were  sent  into  the  vineyard,  were, 
as  faithful  laborers,  the  representatives  of  those  who,  through 


MATTHEW   XX.    1-16.  351 

the  bounty  of  their  Lord,  shall  alike  receive  the  gift  of 
eternal  life.  But  while  eternal  life  is  equally  bestowed  on 
all,  they  who  from  their  superior  services  had  presumed  on 
a  superior  reward,  have  thus  been  cherishing  a  spirit,  which, 
though  it  may  not  exclude  them  from  eternal  life,  will 
nevertheless  place  them  below  those  who  in  shorter  and  less 
conspicuous  services  have  been  more  meek  and  lowly  in 
heart. 

The  substance  of  the  parable  is  this.  While  all  who 
obey  the  call  of  their  Master  and  labor  faithfully  in  his  vine- 
yard shall  equally  receive  the  reward  of  eternal  life,  yet  if 
any  by  reason  of  their  pre-eminent- place  or  services  here 
presume  to  look  down  on  others,  and  selfishly  or  proudly  to 
claim  for  themselves  more  than  is  given  to  others,  they  are 
indulging  a  disposition  and  temper  of  mind  which  must  at 
length  reverse  the  present  order  of  precedency,  and  make 
many  who  are  first  last,  and  last  first.  The  great  law  of 
our  spiritual  being,  by  which  pride  abases  and  humility 
exalts,  is  here  held  up  by  the  Saviour,  and  applied  to  the 
Apostles  as  a  warning  against  the  self-seeking,  self-compla- 
cent spirit  indicated  by  the  question  which  Peter  has  asked 
in  their  behalf.  As  Bengel  has  said,  it  is  in  respect  to  the 
Apostles,  not  a  prophecy,  but  a  warning. 

While  the  parable  was  directly  given  for  the  admonition 
of  the  Apostles,  who  were  evidently  presuming  too  much  on 
their  place  next  to  the  Saviour,  and  their  labors  and  sacri- 
fices, it  after  the  manner  of  Jesus  lays  open  a  grand  princi- 
ple of  spiritual  advancement  and  decline  which  shall  stand 
forth  a  perpetual  admonition  to  all  who  from  their  conspic- 
uous position,  endowments,  or  services  are  in  danger  of 
cherishing  the  spirit  which  is  here  condemned.  It  applies 
to  the  Jews,  who  as  a  people  prided  themselves  on  account 
of  their  superior  privileges,  and  who  by  their  pride  cut 
themselves  off  from  the  high  place  which  they  once  held. 
It  applies  as  a  warning  to  all  who  hold  distinguished  places 
in  the  Church,  or  distinguished  posts  of  Christian  usefulness 


352  MATTHEW    XX.    1-16. 

and  honor,  to  Ihose  whose  reputation  for  learning,  ability, 
or  sanctity  gives  them  a  peculiar  influence  in  the  Christian 
community,  and  to  all  who  from  their  early  calling,  the 
richness  of  their  gifts,  or  the  abundance  and  success  of  their 
labors  are  tempted  to  think  too  highly  of  themselves,  or  to 
despise  others.  "This  parable,"  says  Luther,  "hits  even 
excellent  people,  nay,  it  terrifies  the  greatest  saints,  and 
therefore  Christ  holds  it  up  before  the  Apostles  themselves." 
"How  many  shining  stars,"  says  Ramback  as  quoted  by 
Stier,  "  have  already  been  struck  by  the  tail  of  the  dragon, 
and  cast  down  by  pride  to  the  earth."  Stier  also  borrows 
from  Herberger  a  story  which,  as  he  says,  strikingly 
portrays  in  an  extreme  light  what  Christ  here  mildly 
represents  in  a  softer  light.  A  monk  died,  leaving  a  great 
name  for  sanctity ;  a  robber  who  had  heard  him  preach 
rej)ented,  ran  to  confess,  but  fell  on  the  way  and  broke  his 
neck.  A  devout  man  saw  both,  wept  at  the  death  of  the 
saint,  but  rejoiced  at  that  of  the  robber.  Why  so  ?  '  When 
the  monk  died,  the  devil  took  him  because  of  his  pride; 
when  the  robber  broke  his  neck,  angels  received  his  peni- 
tent soul.'" 

A  more  pertinent  illustration  of  the  parable  might  be 
given.  Aran  was  a  follower  of  Jesus  the  Crucified,  and 
a  teacher  of  his  truth  in  the  early  days  of  the  Church. 
He  labored  unsparingly,  and  saw  the  work  of  the  Lord 
prospering  marvellously  in  his  hands.  Thousands  of  new 
converts  honored  him  as  their  spiritual  father;  his  name 
was  pronounced  with  loving  admiration  in  many  and  distant 
lands,  and  pilgrims  came  from  the  remotest  parts  of  the 
earth,  that  they  might  profit  by  his  counsels  and  the 
sanctity  of  his  life.  But,  unawares  to  himself,  his  heart 
was  beginning  to  be  elated  by  the  honor  and  success  which 
followed  him  in  his  labors.  He  rejoiced,  not  so  much  that 
souls  were  redeemed  from  their  sins,  as  that  they  were  won 
to  Christ  through  the  eloquence  of  his  speech.  And  so  it 
happened,  that  while  his  labors  and  his  zeal  increased,  and 


MATTHEW    XX.    1-16.  353 

multitudes  more  than  ever  thronged  around  him,  and 
throughout  the  whole  of  Christendom  he  was  regarded 
with  reverence  and  wonder,  the  lowiaiess  and  simplicity  of 
his  own  heart  were  leaving  him,  and  even  while  he  ex- 
claimed, Non  nobis,  domine,  "  Not  unto  us,  O  Lord,  not  unto 
us,"  pride  and  vainglory  from  underneath  the  very  altar 
on  which  they  had  been  laid  in  sacrifice  whispered  to  him 
that  the  glory  must  indeed  be  given  to  God,  but  that  few 
among  men  had  been  privileged  to  do  so  much  for  the 
advancement  of  his  name  and  cause. 

Near  him  was  Garnan,  a  simple  disciple  who  honored 
Aran  as  in  the  hands  of  God  the  instrument  of  his  salvation 
from  the  worship  of  idols,  and  who  labored  among  the 
menials  of  his  household,  —  rejoicing  if  at  any  time  he 
could  lead  the  trembling  pilgrim  within  the  reach  of  his 
master's  influence.  His  knowledge  was  the  instinct  of  a 
loving  and  faithful  soul.  He  was  thankful  if  he  could 
revive  the  drooping  hopes  of  a  fellow-servant  or  bestow  a 
cup  of  water  on  the  fainting  traveller,  to  refresh  him  after , 
the  burden  and  the  heat  of  his  journey,  —  repeating  while 
he  did  it  some  comforting  words  of  Jesus,  or  uttering  some 
prayer  of  faith  as  it  came  unbidden  from  his  heart.  Thus 
day  and  night,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  unnoticed  by 
the  eye  of  man,  he  employs  himself  thinking  only  of  his 
Master  and  his  Master's  work,  —  praying  in  his  simple  way, 
and  thus  keeping  the  well-spring  of  piety  alive  in  his  heart, 
but  never  dreaming  that  he  is  doing  anything  for  others, 
and  least  of  all  that  he  is  doing  anything  to  help  on  that 
great  movement  which  is  already  causing  the  earth  to 
tremble  at  its  coming,  and  by  which  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world  shall  become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord,  and  his 
Christ. 

At  length  the  day  of  persecution   arrived.     Aran  wel- 
comes  its   approach.     Amid   the  admiration  of  thousands, 
who  greet  him  almost  with  plaudits  as   they  witness   the 
alacrity  with  which  he  gives  himself  into  the  hands  of  his 
30*  w 


854  MATTHEW   XX. 

persecutors,  he  goes  bravely  to  the  flames,  praising  and  thank- 
ing God  for  the  strength  which  he  has  given  him,  tliat  the 
honors  of  such  a  life  may  not  be  tarnished  nor  its  influence 
weakened  by  a  mean  and  cowardly  death.  Garnan  also 
is  seized  and  bidden  to  make  ready.  No  sympathizing  or 
admiring  eyes  are  turned  towards  him.  He  thinks  of  the 
Saviour  who  died  for  all,  —  of  the  saintly  man  whom  it 
has  been  his  privilege  to  serve.  He  hardly  remembers 
to  pray  even  for  the  salvation  of  his  own  soul.  But  he 
prays  for  his  friends,  that  they  may  serve  God  in  their 
lives,  and  glorify  him  in  their  death.  He  prays  for  lonely 
and  trembling  ones,  that  their  faith  may  be  strengthened. 
He  prays  for  the  kingdom  of  God,  that  it  may  come 
throughout  the  world. 

The  flames  encircle  them,  and  at  the  same  moment  the 
souls  of  both  escape  from  their  fiery  shroud. 

One  is  canonized  in  the  church,  and  numbered  among 
the  starry  names  which  have  power  to  stir  men's  souls 
.through  all  coming  generations.  The  other,  no  man  ex- 
cept a  few  of  his  fellow-servants  cared  for  or  remembered, 
and  soon  his  name  had  utterly  perished  from  all  human 
records.  Beyond  the  veil,  angels  indeed  received  Aran 
as  one  of  the  "  many "  who  have  been  "  called "  into  the 
kingdom  of  God ;  but  Garnan  they  surround  with  brighter 
gleams  of  joy  as  they  bear  him  with  songs  of  joy  and  place 
him  among  the  few  whom  their  Lord  has  "chosen"  to 
lean  upon  his  bosom.  So  the  last  shall  be  first,  and  the 
first  last. 


NOTES. 


For  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that  is  an 
householder,  which  went  out  early  in  the  morning  to  hire  la- 

1.  For  the  kingdom  of  Heav-     an  householder]     The  conipari- 
en  is  like  uuto  a  man  that  is     sou  is  uot   with    the    householder 


MATTHEW   XX. 


355 


2  borers  into  his  vineyard.  And  when  he  had  agreed  with  the 
laborers  for  a  penny  a  day,  he  sent  them  into  his  vineyard. 

3  And  he  went  out  about  the  third  hour,  and  saw  others  standing 

4  idle  in  the  market-place,  and  said  unto  them,  Go  ye  also  into 
the  vineyard,  and  whatsoever  is  right  I  will  give  you.     And 

5  they  went  their  way.     Again  he  went  out  about  the  sixth  and 

6  ninth  hour,  and  did  likewise.  And  about  the  eleventh  hour  he 
went  out,  and  found  others  standing  idle,  and  saith  unto  them, 

7  Why  stand  ye  here  all  the  day  idle  ?  They  say  unto  him.  Be- 
cause no  man  hath  hired  us.  He  saith  unto  them,  Go  ye  also 
into  the  vineyard ;  and  whatsoever  is  right,  that  shall  ye  re- 

8  ceive.  So  when  even  was  come,  the  lord  of  the  vineyard  saith 
unto  his  steward,  Call  the  laborers,  and  give  them  their  hire, 


alone,  but  with  the  whole  action  of 
the  householder  as  related  in  the 
parable.  went  out  early  in 

the  morning  to  hire  laborers] 

Morier,  in  his  Second  Journey 
through  Persia,  p.  265,  mentions 
having  noted  in  the  market-place 
at  Hamadan,  a  custom  like  that 
alluded  to  in  the  parable  :  "  Here 
we  observed  every  morning  before 
the  sun  rose,  that  a  numerous  band 
of  peasants  were  collected  with 
spades  in  their  hands,  waiting  to  be 
hired  for  the  day  to  work  in  the 
surrounding  fields.  This  custom 
struck  me  as  a  most  happy  illustra- 
tion of  our  Saviour's  parable,  par- 
ticularly when,  passing  by  the  same 
place  late  in  the  day,  we  found 
others  standing  idle,  "and  remem- 
bered his  words,  '  Why  stand  ye 
here  all  the  day  idle?'"  Trench. 
his  vineyard]  "  Vine- 
yard is,  since  Isa.  v.  the  similitude 
kept  up  by  Christ  to  denote  God's 
institution  upon  earth,  his  people, 
his  kingdom."     Stier.  2. 

a  penny  a  day]  The  penny  was 
equal  to  about  sixteen  cents  of  our 
coin.  "  He  promises  the  due  re- 
ward, the  denarius,  which  also  in ' 
Tacitus  still  appears  as  the  usual 
ample  day's  wage  for  working 
soldiers.  But  if  those  who  are 
called  at  the  very  first  begin  dis- 
trustfully to  ask,  How  much  am 
I  certain  to  get?  then,  indeed,  it 
is  hot  good,  and  they  are  to  be 
warned  of  the  unhappy  end  of  such 


a  course."     Stier.  3.  about 

the  third  hour]  The  third,  sixth, 
ninth,  and  eleventh  hours  corre- 
spond to  our  9  A.M.,  12  31.,  3  p.m., 
and  5  p.m.  "  These  would  not,  ex- 
cept just  at  the  equinoxes,  be  exactly 
the  hours ;  for  the  Jews,  as  well  as 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  divided  the 
natural  day,  that  between  sunrise 
and  sunset,  into  twelve  equal  parts 
(.John  xi.  9),  which  parts  must  of 
course  have  been  considerably 
longer  in  summer  than  in  wmter." 
"  Probably  the  day  was  also  divided 
into  four'  larger  parts  here  indi- 
cated, just  as  the  Roman  night 
into  four  watches,  and  indeed  the 
Jewish  no  less."  Trench. 
7.  because  no  man  hath  hired 
us]  It  appears  that  all  went  as 
soon  as  they  were  called.  They, 
thei-efore,  are  not  blamed  by  the 
question.  Why  stand  ve  here  all  the 
day  idle?  '8.  So  Avhen 

even  was  come]  In  paying  the 
laborers  at  the  close  of  the  day, 
a  merciful  provision  of  the  Jewish 
law  was  folloAved  :  "  At  his  day 
thou  shalt  give  him  his  hire,  neither 
shall  the  sun  go  down  upon  it,  for 
he  is  poor,  and  setteth  his  heart 
upon  it."  (Deut.  xxiv.  15.)  "  The 
wages  of  liim  that  is  hired  shall  not 
abide  with  thee  all  night  until  the 
morning."  (Lev.  xix.  13.)  Job  (vii. 
2)  implies  a  similar  custom.  The 
evening  of  each  day  resembles  the 
evening  of  life,  and  the  reckoning 
at  the  close  of  the  day  stands  here 


35G 


MATTHEW    XX. 


beo^inning  from  the  last,  unto  the  first.     And  when  they  came  9 
that  were  hired  about  the  eleventh  hour,  they  received  every 
man  a  penny.     But  when  the  first  came,  they  supposed  that  lo 
they  should  have  received  more ;  and  they  likewise  received 
every  man  a  penny.     And  when  they  had  received  it,  they  ii 
murmured  against  the  good  man  of  the  house,  saying,  These  12 
last  have  wrought  but  one  hour,  and  thou  hast  made  them  equal 
unto  us,  which  have  borne  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day. 
But  he  answered  one  of  them,  and  said,  Friend,  I  do  thee  no  13 
wrong ;  didst  not  thou  agree  with  me  for  a  penny  ?     Take  that 
thine  is,  and  go  thy  way ;    I  will  give  unto  this  last  even  as  14 
unto  thee.     Is  it  not  lawful  for  me  to  do  what  I  will  with  mine  15 
own  ?     Is  thine  eye   evil,  because  I  am  good  ?     So  the  last  I6 
shall  be  first ;  and  the  first,  last.     For  many  be  called,  but  few 
chosen. 

And  Jesus  going  up  to  Jerusalem,  took  the  twelve  disciples  n 
apart  in  the  way,  and  said  unto  them,  Behold,  we  go  up  to  I8 
Jerusalem ;  and  the  Son  of  man  shall  be  betrayed  unto  the 
chief  priests  and  unto  the  scribes;    and  they  shall  condemn 


as  a  symbol  of  the  reckoninfj  at  the 
close  of  life.  12.  and  heat 

of  the  day]    rov  Kavaoiua.    The 

word  is  used  in  the  Septuagint,  Hos. 
xiii.  15,  for  the  dry,  burning  east 
wind,  so  fatal  to  all  vegetable  life. 
The  word  is  found  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament only  here  (Luke  xii.  55), 
and  in  James  i.  11,  whei-e  it  is  ap- 
propriately rendered  "  burning  lieaV 
13.  Friend]  ''At  first 
sight  a  friendly  word  merely,  as- 
sumes a  more  solemn  aspect  when 
we  recollect  that  it  is  used  in  xxii. 
12  to  the  guest  who  had  not  the 
wedding  garment,  and  in  chapter 
xxvi.  50  by  our  Lord  to  Judas." 
Alford.  17.  And 

Jesus  going  up  to  Jerusalem] 
The  incidents  and  conversations 
which  begin  with  chapter  xix.,  and 
which  probably  took  place  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Jordan,  end  with 
the  sixteenth  verse  of  this  chapter. 
The  expression  (joinrj  up  to  Jei-usa- 
lem  refers  to  the  remarkable  as- 
cent from  the  valley  of  the  Jordan. 
"  There  is  no  such  second  gash," 
it  is  said,  "  on  the  surface  of  the 


earth "  as  "  the  depression  of  the 
Jordan  valley."  hi  a  distance  of 
only  about  twenty  miles  from  the 
Dead  Sea,  which  is  1,312  feet  below 
the  Mediterranean,  to  Jerusalem, 
which  is  2,200  feet  above  it,  is  a 
perpendicular  ascent  of  more  than 
3,500  feet.  How  long  Jesus  had  re- 
mained in  the  valley  of  the  Jordan, 
on  its  eastern  side,  Ave  have  no 
means  of  ascertaining,  but  probably 
not  more  than  a  day  or  two.  He  had 
set  out  from  Galilee,  to  go  directly 
up  to  Jerusalem  through  Samaria  ; 
but  wlien  the  Samaritans  ( Luke  ix. 
53)  refused  to  receive  him,  he  prob- 
ably turned  to  the  left,  crossed  the 
Jordan,  and  came  by  a  less  direct 
route  through  the  Peroea. 
18.  unto  the  chief  priests  and 
unto  the  scribes]  The  appelhi- 
tion  chief  priests  seems  to  have 
been  a  common  one  at  that  time. 
According  to  Bengel,  it  was  the 
especial  province  of  the  Scribes  to 
know  the  written  laAv,  as  it  was  of 
the  priests  to  decide  and  give  sentence 
in  accordance  with  it.  "  Scribis] 
quorum  erat  scientia;  vXi  pontijicma 


MATTHEW    XX. 


357 


19  him  to  death,  and  shall  deliver  him  to  the  Gentiles,  to  mock, 
and  to  scourge,  and  to  crucify  him ;  and  the  third  day  he  shall 
rise  again. 

20  Then  came  to  him  the  mother  of  Zebedee's  children,  with 
her  sons,  worshipping  him,  and  desiring  a  certain  thing  of  him. 

21  And  he  said  unto  her.  What  wilt  thou  '?  She  saith  unto  him, 
Grant  that  these  my  two  sons  may  sit,  the  one  on  thy  right 

22  hand,  and  the  other  on  the  left,  in  thy  kingdom.  But  Jesus 
answered  and  said.  Ye  know  not  what  ye  ask.     Are  ye  able  to 


scntentia."  19.  and  shall 

deliver   him   to  the  tiJentiles] 

Observe  in  these  two  verses  the 
minuteness  and  exactness  of  the 
prediction.  "  The  Son  of  Man  shall 
be  delivered  to  the  chief  priests  and 
scribes,  and  they  shall  condemn 
him  to  death,"  as  they  did  ;  but 
having  no  authority  to  execute  the 
sentence,  "  they  shall  deliver  him 
to  the  Gentiles,"  —  to  the  Roman 
governor  and  soldiers,  —  "to  mock 
and  scourge  and  crucify  him  ;  and 
on  the  third  day  he  shall  be  raised 
up."  Luke,  who  records  this  pre- 
diction with  some  slight  variations, 
and  Avhose  language,  even  more 
than  that  of  Matthew,  indicates  the 
solemnity  and  emphasis  with  which 
our  Lord  spoke,  and  the  amazement 
of  the  disciples,  adds  (xviii.  34) 
that  they  nevertheless  did  not  un- 
derstand one  word  of  what  he  had 
said  I'especting  his  death  and  resur- 
rection. They  Avere  so  intently 
fixed  upon  the  thought  that  he  was 
now  speedily  to  establish  his  king- 
dom on  earth,  that  they  were  utterly 
blind  to  any  other  idea,  and  could 
not  receive  it.  This  state  of  mind, 
■which  is  mentioned  here  only  by 
Luke,  who  does  not  relate  the  fol- 
lowing incident,  will  account  for  the 
otherwise  improbable  request  which 
is  afterwards  made  by  two  of  the 
disciples  (Mark  x.  35),  through 
their  mother.  20.  the 

mother  of  Zebedee's  children] 
the  mother  of  Zebedee' s  sons  with  her 
sons.  Salome  (Matt,  xxvii.  56  com- 
pared with  Mark  xv.  40).  "  From 
the  adoration  and  discourse  of  this 
woman,  it  is  evident  that  she  enter- 
tained a  high  idea  of  our  Lord's 


majest}^,  but  possessed  very  little 
knowledge."  "  The  flesh,"  says 
Luther,  in  reference  to  this  chapter, 
"  is  always  for  becoming  glorious 
before  it  is  crucified;  exalted  before 
it  is  humbled."  desiring 

a  certain  thing  of  him]  a-king 
sointthiag  which  she  does  not  specify 
at  first,  as  if  she  were  a  little  diffi- 
dent about  making  the  request,  and 
half  conscious  that  it  ought  not  to 
be  made,  and  that  a  refusal  was  not 
improbable  or  nnjnst.  21. 

may  sit,  the  one  on  thy  right 
hand,  and  the  other  on  the  left] 
that  they  ma\'  occupy  the  highest 
places  in  his  kingdom,  which  she 
and  they  believed  was  speedily  to 
appear.  '(Luke  xix.  11.) 
22.  Ye  know  not  Avhat  ye  ask] 
Jesus  replies  to  them,  not  to  her, 
"  Ye  know  not  what  it  is  that  ye 
are  asking."  Some  have  supposed 
that  in  this  reply  Jesus  refers  to  the 
position  at  his  right  hand  and  his 
left  when  he  should  be  upon  the 
cross.  But  he  refers  rather  to  the 
utter  incompatibility  of  their  re- 
quest with  the  spirit  and  nature  of 
his  kingdom,  and  their  entire  igno- 
rance of  Avhat,  from  the  nature  of 
his  kingdom,  must  be  involved  in 
their  request.  Are  ye  able] 

They,  still  ignorant  of  the  Avhole 
matter,  and  supposing  that  the  ques- 
tions of  Jesiis  which  involved  so 
much  self-renunciation  and  suffer- 
ing were  some  easy  conditions  on 
which  their  request  would  be 
granted  reply  hastily  that  they  are 
able.  Yet  even  as  Jews  they  ought 
to  have  taken  the  words  of  Jesus 
in  a  different  and  profounder  sense. 
"  The  plu'ase  that  goes  before  this, 


358 


MATTHEW   XX. 


drink  of  the  cup  tliat  I  shall  drink  of,  and  to  be  baptized  with 
tlie  baptism  that  I  am  baptized  with  ?  They  say  unto  liim, 
Wc  are  able.  And  he  saith  unto  them,  Ye  shall  drink  in-  23 
deed  of  my  cup ;  and  be  baptized  with  the  baptism  that  I  am 
baptized  with;  but  to  sit  on  my  right  hand,  and  on  my  left,  is 
not  mine  to  give ;  but  it  shall  be  given  to  them  for  whom  it  is 

prepared  of  my  Father. And  when  the  ten  heard  it,  they  24 

were  moved  with  indignation  against  the  two  brethren.     But  25 
Jesus  called  them  unto  him,  and  said,  Ye  know  that  the  princes 
of  the  Gentiles  exercise  dominion  over  them,  and  they  that  are 


concerning  the  cup,  is  taken  from 
divers  places  of  Scripture,  where 
sad  and  grievous  tilings  are  com- 
pared to  draughts  of  a  bitter  cup." 
'•  So  cruel  u  thing  was  the  baptism 
of  the  JcAVS, that  not  with- 
out cause,  partly  by  reason  of  the 
burying^  as  I  may  call  it,  under 
Avater,  and  partly  by  reason  of  the 
cold,  it  used  to  signify  the  most 
cruel  kind  of  death."  Lightfoot. 
"  To  be  overwhelmed  with  grief,  to 
be  immersed  in  affliction,  will  be 
found  common  in  most  languages." 
Campbell.  "  Afflictions  and  calam- 
ities in  the  sacred  writings  are  often 
compared  to  Avaves  and  billows  by 
Avhich  the  suffering  ai"e  over- 
whelmed." Ps.  Ixix.  1,  2;  Isa.  xliii. 
2.  Kuinoel.  Being  baptized  into 
the  death  of  Christ  is,  in  its  spiritual 
sense,  a  faA-^orite  fijjure  Avith  St. 
Paul.  (Rom.  vi.  3,  4  ;  Col.  ii.  12.) 
They  say  to  him,  "  We  are  able.'^ 
"  The  one  of  these  brethren  Avas  the 

first  of  the  apostles  to be 

baptized  Avith  the  baptism  of  blood 
(Acts  xii.  1,  2);  the  other  had  the 
longest  experience  among  them  of 
a  life  of  ti'ouble  and  persecution." 
Alford.  23.  Ye  shall 

drink  indeed  of  my  cup]  We 
may  suppose  that  Jesus  made  this 
reply  to  them,  that  they  should  in- 
deed share  with  him  his  sufferings 
even  to  the  baptism  of  death  AAdth 
a  solemnity  of  emphasis  which 
shoAved  how  much  more  meaning 
he  attached  to  the  Avnrds  than  they 
had  done.  but  to  sit  on 

my  right  hand,  and  on  my 
left,  is  not  mine  to  give]  As 
the    majesty  of  Jesus   shines  out 


from  his  humility,  so  here  his  hu- 
mility shoAA's  itself  in  his  majesty. 
Though  by  the  Avoi'ds,  to  sit  on  my 
right  and  on  my  left,  he  admits  that 
he  holds  a  royal  office  in  a  more 
than  earthly  kingdom,  still  he  ac- 
knowledges one  loftier  and  greater 
than  himself,  Avithout  Avhose  au- 
thority and.  consent  it  Avas  not  for 
him  to  appoint  to  the  highest  places 
of  honor  and  of  poAver  in  his  king- 
dom. That  "  is  not  mine  to  give, 
but  [it  is  for  those]  for  Avhom  it  has 
been  prepared  by  my  Father." 

it  is  prepared]  the  per- 
fect tense  is  here  used  to  describe 
a  future  CA'ent  in  its  relation  to 
another  event  still  farther  in  the 
future.  but]     aXX  ois- 

"  The  conjunction  aXXa,  Avhen,  as 
in  this  place,  it  is  not  folloAved  by  a 
verb,  but  by  a  noun  or  pronoun,  is 
generally  to  be  understood  as  of  the 
same  import  Avith  et  fJH].,  unless,  ex- 
cept; otherAvise  the  A-erb  must  be 
supplied  as  is  done  here  in  the 
common  Aersion."  Campbell.  We 
doubt  Avhether  dWd  is  used  in  this 
Avay  like  our  but  to  mean  unless  or 
except.  The  most  natural  transla- 
tion of  this  passage,  and  that  Avhich 
retains  most  exactly  the  Greek 
idiom,  is,  "  It  is  not  mine  to  give, 
but  [is]  for  Avhomsoever  it  has  been 
prepared  by  my  Father." 
25.  the  princes  of  the  Gentiles 
exercise  dominion  over  them] 
"  the  rulers  of  the  Gentiles  [of  the 
nations]  lord  it  [rule]  OA'er  them, 
and  the  gi-eat  [the  imperial]  ones 
exercise  authority  OA'cr  them;  "  i.  e. 
over  the  rulers.    Among  the  Geu- 


MATTHEW    XX. 


3o9 


26  great  exercise  authority  upon  them.  But  it  shall  not  be  so 
among  you;  but  whosoever  will  be  g.eat  among  you,  let  him 

27  be  your  minister ;    and  whosoever  will  be  chief  among  you, 

28  let  him  be  your  servant ;  even  as  the  Son  of  man  came  not  to 
be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ran- 
som for  many. 

29  And  as  they  departed  from  Jericho,  a  great  multitude  fol- 

30  lowed  him.     And,  behold,  two  blind  men,  sitting  by  the  way- 


tiles  there  are  different  grades  of 
authority,  the  inferior  officers  ruling 
over  the  people,  and  at  the  same 
time  subject  to  the  authority  of 
those  higher  than  themselves. 

26.  But  it  shall  not  be  so 
among  you]  Not  so  shall  it  be 
amony  you.  With  the  Gentiles  are 
different  grades  of  official  power 
and  authority.  Not  so  shall  it  be 
among  you.  But  whosoever  may 
wish  to  be  great  among  you,  let  him 
be  your  servant;  and,  verse  27.  who- 
soever may  -wish  to  be  first  among 
you,  let  him  be  your  slave;'"  i.  e. 
the  greater  the  distinction  sought, 
so  much  the  humbler  let  the  office 
and  the  sennce  be.  The  only  test 
of  greatness  with  Christ  is  the  hu- 
mility and  fidelity  which  are  ready 
to  engage  in  the  lowest  offices,  and 
without  any  thought  of  self  to  do 
what  can  be  done  for  the  good  of 
others.  This  is  the  foundation  of 
Christian  duty  and  distinction.  It 
is  the  great  doctrine  expressed  in 
the  first  of  the  beatitudes,  implied 
in  almost  every  conversation  of  our 
Saviour,  repeated  again  and  again 
(x.  38,  39  ;  xvi.  24-27),  directly 
enforced  (xviii.  4),  illustrated  by  the 
parable  at  the  beginning  of  this 
chapter,  and  confirmed  by  his  own 
example  at  the  last  supper  (John 
xiii.  4-16),  and  by  his  death. 
"  Then  it  was,  "  says  Dr.  Furness, 
"  that  Jesus,  perceiving  their  am- 
bition, gives  them,  —  gives  them  !  — 
gives  the  world !  —  that  immortal 
definition  of  true  greatness,  the 
depth  of  Avhose  meaning  is  yet  to 
be  fathomed,  and  of  which  his  life 
is  the  only  adequate  illustration 
which  the  world  has  yet  seen." 
"  Of  this  whole  passage  in  Avhich 
Jesus  defines  greatness,  I  think  it 


may  be  said,  without  exaggeration, 
that,  if  it  were  the  only  saying  of 
his  that  had  come  down  to  us,  and, 
even  if  it  had  been  unaccompanied 
by  the^ splendid  illustration  of  his 
personal  example,  it  Avould  have 
been  recorded  among  the  deathless 
sayings  of  the  world's  best  wisdom. 
Truly  he  was  a  Avorld-teacher,  and 
the  world's  Avisest  may  sit  at  his 
feet,  finding  all  their  wisdom  antici- 
pated." 28.  a  ransom 
for  many]  "  As  the  synoptical 
Gospels  (with  the  exception  of 
^Matt.  xxvi.  28)  do  not  contain  any 
other  similar  declaration  in  Christ's 
own  words,  impartiality  requires 
from  us  the  confession,  that  this 
passage  taken  by  itself  cannot  7>ror6 
the  doctrine  o.f  Christ's  A'icarious 
death,  especially  as  the  same  ex- 
pressions here  used  to  describe  it 
may  denote  an}'  kind  of  death  in 
way  of  sacrifice."     Olshausen. 

29.  And  as  they  departed 
from  Jericho]  30.  And, 

hehold,  two  blind  men]  Mat- 
thew mentions  two  blind  men,  Mark 
and  Luke  only  o«e,  probably  the 
one  Avho  made  himself  prominent: 
"  BartimjEus,  a  blind  man,  the  son 
of  Timseus "  (Mark  x.  46).  So 
Matthew  (viii,  28)  speaks  of  two 
demoniacs;  Mark  (v.  2),  and  Luke 
(viii.  27)  mention  but  one;  probably 
the  one  who  Avas  most  remarkable, 
and  Avith  whom  the  extraordinary 
conversation  took  place.  In  chap- 
ter xxi.  5-7,  MattheAV  mentions 
both  the  ass  and  the  colt ;  Mark 
only  the  colt  on  Avhich  our  Lord 
rode.  ^lattheAV,  the  tax-gatherer, 
is  usually  more  minute  and  precise 
in  regard  to  numbers.  Where  the 
other  EA-angelists  speak  of  4,000  or 
5,000,  Mattliew  adds  to  those  num- 


SCO 


MATTHEW    XX. 


side,  when  they  heard  that  Jesus  passed  by,  cried  out,  saying, 
Have  mercy  on  us,  O  Lard,  thou  Son  of  David !     And  the  3i 
multitude  rebuked  them,  because  they  should  hold  their  peace. 
But  they  cried  the  more,  saying,  Have  mercy  on  us,  O  Lord, 
thou  Son  of  David !     And  Jesus  stood  still,  and  called  them,  32 
and  said.  What  will  ye  that  I  shall  do  unto  you  ?     They  say  33 
unto  him.  Lord,  that  our  eyes  may  be  opened.     So  Jesus  had  34 
compassion  on  them,  and  touched  their  eyes  ;  and  immediately 
their  eyes  received  sight ;  and  they  followed  him. 


bers,  "besides  women  and  children." 
See  Matt,  xiv,  21  compared  with 
Mark  vi.  44,  Luke  ix.  14.  and  John 
vi.  10 ;  and  Matt.  xv.  38  compared 
with  Mark  viii.  9.  But  Matthew 
and  Mark  speak  of  meeting  the 
blind  men  [man]  as  they  were  going 
out  from  Jericho,  Luke  as  they  were 
drawing  nigh  to  Jericho.  Attempts 
have  been  made  to  reconcile  the 
two  accounts,  by  rendering  Luke's 
expression,  iv  Ta>  iyyl^eiv  avTov 
els  'lepix^i  "  when  he  was  drawing 
nigh  [Jerusalem]  at  Jericho,"  or 
"  while  he  was  nigh  to  Jericho  "  [in 
going  out].  Both  these  interpreta- 
tions are  forced.  The  explanation 
given  by  Bengel  is  less  unreasona- 
ble. He  supposes  that  one  of  the 
blind  men,  Bartimoeus,  met  Jesus 
on  his  way  into  Jericho,  and  that 
while  Jesus  was  dining,  or  rather 
passing  the  night,  with  Zaccheus, 
this  man  joined  himself  with  an- 
other blind  man,  and  both  sitting  by 
the  side  of  the  way  through  Avhich 
Jesus  must  pass,  made  their  appeal 
to  him  and  were  healed  by  him,  as 
he  Avas  leaving  Jericho.  It  may 
have  been  so  ;  but  even  then  there 
is  a  discrepancy  which  is  not  re- 
moved ;  since  Luke  says  that  one 
was  healed  when  Jesus   was  ap- 


proaching Jericho,  and  Matthew 
says  that  both  were  healed  when 
he  was  leaving  Jericho.  It  is  better 
to  allow  that  in  an  unimportant 
particular  either  one  or  two  of  the 
Evangelists  has  made  a  mistake. 
It  is  such  a  mistake  as  detracts 
nothing  from  the  authority  of  the 
writer,  or  the  tnistworthiness  of  the 
nai-rative.  These  positive  contra- 
dictions in  the  different  Evangelists, 
when  thoroughly  examined,  are 
found  to  be  very  few,  and  relate  to 
insignificant  matters.  If  we  knew 
aU  the  details  as  they  occurred,  it 
is  possible  that  even  here  the  ap- 
parent discrepancy  might  be  ex- 
plained. We  know  the  sympathy 
that  often  exists  between  persons 
suffering  from  the  same  infimiity. 
It  is  possible  that  the  blind  man 
whom  Luke  represents  Jesus  as 
healing  on  his  approach  to  Jericho, 
may  have  gone  in  quest  of  two 
others  whom  he  had  knoAvn,  and 
induced  them  to  sit  by  the  wayside 
where  they  could  call  on  Jesus  as 
he  was  leaving  the  city  the  next 
morning.  There  is  nothing  im- 
possible or  very  improbable  in 
such  a  supposition.  But  we  think 
any  explanation  of  very  little  con- 
sequence. 


MATTHEW    XXI.  361 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

Reckonixg  of  Time. 

There  are  few  difficulties  in  this  chapter  except  in  the 
chronological  succession  of  events.  Matthew  is  evidently- 
more  careful  to  give  the  incidents  and  conversations  than 
to  arrange  them  in  their  exact  order.  Indeed  he  hurries 
through  the  transactions  of  the  first  four  days,  including 
that  on  which  he  left  Jericho,  that  he  may  give  in  full  the 
remarkable  words  uttered  by  Jesus  on  the  last  day  that 
he  spent  in  the  temple. 

Six  days  before  the  Passover  (John  xii.  1)  Jesus  came 
to  Bethany.  As  the  legal  day  of  the  Jews  extended  from 
sunset  to  sunset,  the  arrival  of  Jesus  at  Bethany  was 
probably  a  little  after  sunset  on  Friday,  i.  e.  just  at  the 
beginning  of  the  last  day  of  the  week,  which  was  the  Jewish 
Sabbath.  Carpenter,  Harmony  of  the  Gospels,  p.  196, 
and  Greswell,  Diss.  Vol.  III.  p.  19,  suppose  the  triumphal 
entry  into  Jerusalem  to  have  been  on  Monday.  The 
common  opinion  they  say,  "  rests  on  no  better  authority 
than  that  of  prescription."  We  think  that  the  probabilities 
are  not  on  their  side.  We  know  that  the  crucifixion  took 
place  on  Friday,  and  that  the  Passover  was  eaten  by  Jesus 
and  his  disciples  the  evening  before,  which  was  the  begin- 
ning of  Friday  according  to  the  Jewish  mode  of  reckoning. 

Jesus  arrived  at  Bethany  (John  xii.  1)  six  days  before 
the  Passover.  The  Paschal  lamb  was  to  be  killed  the 
afternoon  before  it  was  eaten.  "  The  festival  of  unleavened 
bread  began  strictly  with  the  Passover-meal."  But  it 
was  customary  for  the  Jews  "to  cease  from  labor  at  or 
before  midday ;  to  put  away  all  leaven  out  of  their  houses 
before  noon."  Hence,  in  popular  usage,  the  day  before  the 
31 


3G2  MATTHEW    XXI. 

Paschal  supper  came  very  naturally  to  be  reckoned  as 
the  beginning  or  first  day  of  the  festival,  which,  including 
this  day,  continued  eight  days.  See  Robinson's  Greek  Ilar- 
mony  of  the  Gospels,  pp.  211,  213.  Thus  the  feast  or  festi- 
val of  the  Passover,'  or  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread,  which 
in  its  larger  compass  reached  through  more  than  a  week, 
may  have  been  accounted  to  begin  either  with  the  day 
when  the  lamb  was  killed,  or  the  day  following.  In 
strictness  of  speech,  the  festival  began  with  the  Paschal 
supper.  But  Matthew  (xxvi.  17)  speaks  of  the  day  before 
that  as  "  the  first  day  of  unleavened  bread,"  and  Josephus 
(Wars  of  the  Jews,  V.  3.  1  and  Ant.  XI.  4.  8)  speaks  of 
it  in  the  same  way.  Now  "  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread  " 
and  "  the  feast  of  the  Passover  "  were  used  as  synonymous 
terms  to  denote  the  same  festival,  and  that  festival  may 
have  been  regarded  as  beginning  on  either  of  the  above- 
mentioned  days.  Too  little  is  known  of  the  usage  of 
language  in  this  respect  by  the  Evangelists  to  enable  us  to 
determine  with  certainty  which  of  the  two  days  is  meant 
by  them  as  the  day  from  which  to  reckon  when  mention 
is  made  of  the  Passover  (or  feast  of  the  Passover)  by  John 
(xii.  1)  and  by  Matthew  (xxvi.  2),  and  of  "the  Passover 
and  the  unleavened  bread"  by  Mark  (xiv.  1).  If  their 
language  is  to  be  taken  in  its  strictest  sense,  Jesus  arrived 
at  Bethany  on  Sunday,  and  "two  days  before  the  Pass- 
over" would  be  on  Wednesday.  If  they  followed  what 
Dr.  Robinson  calls  the  "popular  usage,"  and  reckoned 
back  from  what  Matthew  calls  "  the  first  day  of  unleavened 
bread,"  then  each  of  those  events  falls  a  day  earlier. 
Carpenter  and  Robinson  take  the  later  date ;  Alford,  in 
accordance  with  the  traditions  of  the  Roman  Catholic  and 
Episcopal  church,  assumes  the  earlier;  and  in  this  par- 
ticular we  accord  with  him,  though,  as  it  appears  to  us, 
there  is  no  weight  of  reason  or  authority  which  decidedly 
preponderates  either  way. 

Finding   Jesus   at    Bethany  on  the  eve  of  the   Jewish 


MATTHEW   XXI.  363 

Sabbath,  that  is,  on  Friday  evening,  we  suppose  that  he 
remained  there  through  the  Sabbath,  and  partook  of  the 
supper  which  had  been  prepared  for  him,  and  at  which 
Mary  anointed  his  feet  with  the  pure  and  costly  ointment. 
(Matt.  xxvi.  6-13;  Mark  xiv.  3-9;  John  xii.  1-8.) 
The  next  day,  which  corresponds  to  our  Sunday,  he  entered 
Jerusalem.  (Mark  xi.  1-10.)  Such  a  procession,  with 
its  incidents  and  delays,  must  have  taken  up  the  greater 
part  of  the  day.  Mark  says  that  when  he  had  gone  into 
tlie  temple  and  looked  round  on  everything  there,  it  was 
now  evening,  and  he  returned  to  Bethany  with  the  twelve. 
The  next  morning,  Monday  (Mark  xi.  12-15),  he  came 
back  to  Jerusalem,  destroying  the  barren  fig-tree  as  he 
came,  expelled  the  money-changers  &c.  in  the  temple, 
and  in  the  evening  went  out  of  the  city.  "And  as  they 
passed  by  in  the  morning"  (of  course,  the  next  morning, 
or  Tuesday),  seeing  the  withered  fig-tree  as  they  came, 
they  entered  Jerusalem  again,  and,  after  a  day  crowded 
with  conversations  and  events,  Jesus  (Mark  xiii.  1,  3)  went 
from  the  temple  to  the  Mount  of  Olives,  where  he  uttered 
the  remarkable  warnings  and  predictions  which  are  re- 
corded in  the  tAventy-fourth  and  twenty-fifth  chapters  of 
Matthew,  and  the  corresponding  chapters  in  Mark  and 
Luke.  After  this  conversation,  which  must  have  extended 
far  into  the  evening  (the  beginning  of  Wednesday,  or  the 
fourth  day  of  the  week),  it  was  now  (Matt.  xxvi.  2 ;  Mark 
xiv.  1)  "  two  days "  to  "  the  feast  of  the  Passover,  and 
of  unleavened  bread." 

If  this  view  is  correct,  we  have  no  record  of  the  manner 
in  which  Wednesday  was  spent  by  Jesus.  Probably  he 
was  in  tlie  comparative  retirement  of  Bethany  or  the  Mount 
of  Olives,  gaining  strength  for  the  severer  trials  and  suffer- 
ings before  him. 


364  MATTHEW   XXI.    1-17. 

1-17.  Triumphal  Entry  into  Jerusalem. 

1-17.  We  are  here  brought  within  the  last  week  of  the? 
Saviour's  life.  Heretofore  his  usual  practice  has  been 
to  avoid  all  publicity.  But  now,  knowing  that  his  hour 
is  at  hand,  he  is  evidently  willing  to  make  a  more  general 
and  public  impression.  He  has  probably  spent  the  Sabbath 
with  Mary  and  Martha  and  Lazarus  whom  he  loved  at 
Bethany,  which  lies  secluded  at  the  foot  of  the  Mount  of 
Olives  on  the  eastern  side,  and  about  fifteen  furlongs  (John 
xi.  18),  or  a  little  less  than  two  miles  from  Jeinisalem. 
While  he  was  there,  many  of  the  Jews  (John  xii.  9,  11) 
came  out  from  the  city,  not  only  to  see  Jesus,  but  also 
to  see  Lazarus  whom  he  had  raised  from  the  dead.  These 
men,  many  of  them  doubtless  strangers  who  had  come  up 
to  celebrate  the  great  national  festival,  were  probably  very 
much  excited  by  what  they  heard  and  saw  at  Bethany, 
and  on  their  return  to  Jerusalem  heightened  the  already 
impatient  expectations  of  others,  and  prepared  to  welcome 
Jesus  on  his  approach  to  the  city  the  following  day.  Jesus 
on  Sunday  morning  left  the  house  of  his  friends,  and  on 
reaching  that  part  of  the  Mount  of  Olives  where  Bethphage 
and  Bethany  meet,  he  paused  and  sent  forward  two  of 
his  disciples  to  procure  an  ass  and  her  foal  from  the  opposite 
village.  There  is  no  evidence  that  any  arrangement  had 
previously  been  made  with  the  owner,  nor  is  there  anything 
to  show  decisively  that  such  an  arrangement  had  not  been 
made.  In  either  case  it  is  most  likely  that  the  owner  was 
one  of  the  friends  of  Jesus,  who  knew  the  disciples,  and 
therefore  understood  the  reply  which  Jesus,  3,  directed 
them  to  make  to  him.  The  ass,  and  the  foal  whereon 
never  man  sat,  were  brought,  garments  were  placed  upon 
them,  and  Jesus  sat  upon  them,  i.  e.  on  the  garments. 
These  preparations  must  have  caused  a  very  considerable 
delay,  during  which  the  multitudes  were  gathering  round 
him,  rousing  one  another  to  a  still  higher  pitch  of  enthu- 


MATTHEW    XXL    1-17.  365 

siasm,  while  some  had  spread  their  garments  before  him, 
others  were  cutting  branches  from  trees  and  spreading 
them  in  the  way.  At  the  descent  of  the  Mount  of  Olives 
(Luke  xix.  37-40),  the  whole  multitude  of  the  disciples 
broke  forth  into  acclamations  of  joy  and  praise.  Some  of 
the  Pharisees  who  were  present  asked  him  to  rebuke  his 
disciples  for  using  such  language.  But  he  rephed,  that 
if  these  were  silent,  the  very  stones  would  cry  out,  —  by 
this  hyperbolical  expression  intimating  the  sympathy  M^hich 
even  inanimate  things  have  with  the  highest  spiritual  and 
moral  forces  of  the  universe.  Then,  as  he  reached  that 
point  on  the  southwestern  slope  of  the  Mount  of  Olives, 
where  the  city  with  all  the  magnificence  of  its  towers  and 
palaces  and  temple  glittering  in  the  noonday  sun  broke 
upon  his  sight,  his  thoughts  were  turned  on  scenes  and 
events  wholly  different  from  those  which  met  the  eyes 
and  filled  the  wondering  minds  of  his  followers.  Unmind- 
ful of  the  shouts  of  gladness  and  triumph  which  filled  the 
air,  he  thought  of  the  long  catalogue  of  crimes,  and  the 
approaching  day  of  doom,  when  her  enemies  should  com- 
pass her  about  and  keep  her  in  on  every  side,  and  her 
walls  and  her  children  alike  should  be  overthrown  and 
destroyed.  Beholding  the  city,  "the  mother  and  altar 
of  saints,"  he  wept  over  it,  saying,  "If  thou,  even  thou, 
hadst  only  known,  even  yet  in  this  thy  day,  the  things 
which  belong  to  thy  peace!  but  now  they  are  hid  from 
thy  eyes."  The  long  succession  of  sins  and  crimes  had 
blinded  them,  and  destroyed  in  them  the  sense  of  their 
true  condition,  and  prevented  a  knowledge  of  the  sorrows 
which  must  inevitably  fall  upon  them. 

10,  15-17.  The  whole  city  was  moved  at  his  coming, 
and  as  he  entered  whhin  the  courts  of  the  temple  the 
children  took  up  the  words  of  ancient  prophecy  which  had 
announced  his  approach,  and  sent  up  their  welcoming 
cries  of  Hosanna  to  the  son  of  David.  Jesus  refused  to 
rebuke    them   at   the   request   of    the    Chief    Priests   and 

31* 


366 


MATTHEW    XXI. 


Scribes.  Having  thus  finished  his  triumphal  entry,  and 
looked  round  on  everything  in  the  temple  (Mark  xi.  11), 
it  being  now  eventide  he  went  out  unto  Bethany  with  the 
twelve. 

19-22.  The  withering  of  the  fig-tree  from  its  very  roots 
is  given  much  more  fully  and  exactly  in  Mark  xi.  12-  14, 
20-26.  Matthew  mentions  the  different  parts  of  the  trans- 
action as  if  they  had  all  occurred  at  the  same  time. 


NOTES. 

And  when  they  drew  nigh  unto  Jerusalem,  and  were  come  to 
Bethphage,  unto  the  Mount  of  Olives,  then  sent  Jesus  two  dis- 
ciples, saying  unto  them.  Go  into  the  village  over  against  you,   2 
and  straightway  ye  shall  find  an  ass  tied,  and  a  colt  with  her ; 
loose  them,  and  bring  them  unto  me.    And  if  any  man  say  aught  3 
unto  you,  ye  shall  say,  The  Lord  hath  need  of  them ;    and 
straightway  he  will  send  them.    All  this  was  done,  that  it  might  4 
be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet,  saying,  "  Tell  6 


1.  Bethphage]  the  house  of  figii, 
as  Bethany  is  the  house  of  dates. 
Its  precise  geographical  position 
has  not  heretofore  been  ascertained; 
but  Barclay  ( City  of  the  Great  King, 
p.  65)  thinks,  for  reasons  which  seem 
to  us  satisfactory,  that  he  has  iden- 
tified the  spot  on  the  southern  spur 
of  the  Mount  of  Olives,  just  before 
reaching  the  point  from  which  Jeru- 
salem is  visible.  Mark  says,  "When 
they  were  drawing  nigh  to  Jeru- 
salem, at  Bethphage  and  Bethany 
by  the  Mount  of  Olives,"  i.  e.  at 
tlie  dividing  line  between  Bethphage 
and  Bethany.  2.  Go  into 

the  village]  Thei-e  may  have 
been  some  previous  understanding 
between  Jesus  and  the  owner  of  the 
animals ;  but  there  is  no  word  here 
to  intimate  such  an  aiTangement. 
A  miraculous  knowledge  on  the 
part  of  Jesus  seems  to  be  implied 
by  the  language  of  the  Evangelists. 
3.  ye  shall  say,  The 


Lord  hath  need  of  them]     "  If 

now  the  disciples  should  at  first  be 
almost  suspected  of  the  intention  to 
steal  the  animals,  a  single  word  is 
to  satisfy  the  owner.  It  is  by  aU 
means  implied  in  this,  that  these 
people  belonged  to  the  number  of 
those  who  believed  on  him,  that 
they  at  once  understood  who  '  the 
Lord '  was,  and  without  hesitation 

willingly  served  him The 

need  of  the  Lord  who  has  not  even 
an  ass  of  his  own  for  his  festal  pro- 
cession, presents  a  significant  con- 
trast which  the  jDreachers  on  the 
advent  from  the  earliest  times  do 
not  fail  to  notice."  Stier. 
4.  All  this  was  done,  that  it 
might  be  fulfilled]  This  is  Mat- 
thew's most  common  method  of  in- 
troducing passages  from  the  Proph-  • 
ets.  (See  i.  22;  ii.  15;  iv.  14;  xxi. 
4;  xxvii.  35.)  See  also,  Avith  a 
slight  variation  in  the  introductory 
word,  oTTios  for  ha,  ii.  23 ;  viii.  17 ; 


MATTHEW    XXI. 


307 


ye  the  daughter  of  Sion,  Behold,  thy  King  cometh  unto  thee, 
meek,  and  sitting  upon  an  ass,  and  a  colt  the  foal  of  an  ass." 


xii.  17;  xiii.  35.  In  xxvi.  66  we 
read,  "  All  tliis  was  done  that  the 
Scriptures  (or  writings)  of  the 
prophets  might  be  fulfilled."  The 
expression,  tliat^  la  order  iliai,  is  used 
not  so  much  to  indicate  a  purpose 
as  a  fact.  Sometimes  it  is  employed, 
merely  to  introdiice  a  passage  fi-om 
the  sacred  writings  by  way  of  ac- 
commodation, perhaps  to  remove  a 
Jewish  prejudice.  "  Out  of  Egypt 
have  I  called,  my  Son"  (ii.  15); 
"  He  shall  be  called  a  Nazarene " 
(ii.  23),  are  examples  of  this  sort. 
The  coincidence  is  verbal  and  inci- 
dental, and  forms  no  part  of  the 
original  meaning  or  purpose  of  the 
writer.  Jn  order  that  it  miyJd  beful- 
Jilled{see  Notes,  pp.  43,  44)  does  not 
then  involve  the  necessity  of  certain 
specific  acts  in  order  to  the  fulfil- 
ment of  certain  prophecies.  It  may 
be  used  merely  to  point  to  an  un- 
designed and  apparently  incidental 
coincidence,  and  never  necessarily 
implies  that  the  act  was  done  with 
the  express  intention  of  fulfilling 
the  letter  of  the  ancient  writing. 
But  there  is  a  deeper  sense  in  which 
the  word  fuljil  is  applied  in  the  Xew 
Testament  to  every  part  of  the  Jew- 
ish dispensation,  to  its  law,  its  his- 
tory, and  its  prophecies.  They  all 
pointed  on  to  the  more  perfect  dis- 
l)ensation  for  which  they  were  pre- 
paring the  way,  and  in  which  they 
were  to  find  their  fulfilment.  The 
law  Avas  to  be  fulfilled,  v.  17  (see 
Notes  above,  pp.  88-92,  94),  not 
by  the  literal  observance  of  all  its 
precepts,  but  in  the  purer  life  and 
spirit  by  which  it  should  be  eman- 
cipated from  its  now  burdensome 
forms  and  ritual  observances.  So 
the  prophecies,  foreshadowing,  by 
such  types  and  images  as  could  be 
used  the  richer  life  and  diviner 
glories  which  should  belong  to  the 
Messiah's  kingdom,  are  fulfil: 3d,  not 
so  much  by  tlie  precise  rej  roduc- 
tion  of  each  one  of  those  tj-pes  and 
images  in  the  outward  acts  and 
events  of  his  life,  as  by  the  unfold- 
ing of  its  spirit  and  power  and  truth 
through  him.     The  fifty-third  chap- 


ter of  Isaiah,  e.  g.  foreshadowing 
the  humiliation  and  sufferings  and 
death  of  the  Messiah,  has  its  ful- 
filment in  Christ,  even  though  some 
of  the  terms  used  should  not  litcr- 
.ally  describe  any  specific  action  or 
event  connected  with  him,  or  his 
kingdom.  Still,  in  a  few  cases,  our 
attention  is  called  to  the  fulfilment 
of  prophecy,  not  only  in  this  higher 
sense,  but  in  minute  and  apparently 
unimportant  particulars.  Isa.  liii. 
7,  9, 12  :  ''  As  a  sheep  before  her 
shearers  is  dumb,  so  he  opened  not 
his  mouth.    And  he  made  his  grave 

with the  rich  in  his  death. 

And  he  was  numbered  with  the 
transgressors."  The  passage  before 
us  is  of  this  kind.  The  prophet 
Zechariah,  in  his  anticipations  of 
the  Messiah's  kingdom  and  the 
blessings  which  should  attend  it, 
breaks  out,  ix.  9,  into  language 
Avhich,  taken  figuratively,  would 
describe  the  character  and  office  of 
Christ.  "  I  suppose,"  says  Dr. 
Noyes,  "  the  mild,  pacific  disposi- 
tion of  the  Messiah,  rather  than  his 
humility,  to  be  particularly  denoted 
by  the  "adjective,  and  by  the  cir- 
cumstance of  his  riding  upon  an 
ass.  It  seems  to  have  been  appro- 
priate to  princes  and  magistrates  to 
ride  upon  asses,  especially  white 
asses  (see  Judges  v.  10  ;  x.  4  ;  xii. 
14);  but  it  was  a  sign  of  peace  to 
ride  upon  an  ass  rather  than  a  war- 
horse."  But  while  the  prophetic 
language  here  used  has  its  fulfilment 
in  the  mild  and  pacific  character  as 
well  as  the  kingly  office  of  the  ^les- 
siah,  it  is  also  literally  fulfilled  to  a 
remarkable  degree  in  its  minute  and 
apparently  unimportant  particulars. 
The  very  images  Avhich  were  em- 
ployed to  foreshadow  his  character 
and  oflSce  are  actually  reproduced 
before  the  eyes  of  men,  though,  as 
St.  John  says  (xii.  16),  even  the 
disciples  did  not  understand  or 
call  to  mind  the  prophetic  words 
till  after  "  Jesus  was  glorified." 
The  language  in  its  connection 
with  the  events  is  very  extraor- 
dinary :  — 


368 


MATTHEW    XXI. 


And  the  disciples  went,  and  did  as  Jesus  commanded  them,  6 
and  brought  the  ass,  and  the  colt,  and  put  on  them  their  7 
clothes,  and.  they  set  him  thereon.  And  a  very  great  multitude  8 
spread  their  garments  in  the  way ;  others  cut  down  branches 
from  the  trees,  and  strewed  them  in  the  way.  And  the  multi-  9 
tudes  that  went  before,  and  that  followed,  cried,  saying,  Ho- 
sanna  to  the  Son  of  David !  blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the 

name  of  the  Lord  !     Hosanna  in  the  highest ! And  when  10 

he  was  come  into  Jerusalem,  all  the  city  was  moved,  saying, 
"Who  is  this  ?      And   the  multitude   said,   This  is  Jesus,  the  11 
prophet  of  Nazareth  of  Gahlee.      And  Jesus  went  into  the  12 
temple  of  God,  and  cast  out  all  them  that  sold  and  bought  in 


*'  Rejoice  greatly,  0  daughter  of  Ziou, 
Shout,  0  daughter  of  Jerusalem  I 
Behold  thy  King  cometh  to  thee ! 
He  is  just,  and  having  salvation ; 
Meek,  and  riding  upon  an  ass, 
Even  upon  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an  ass." 

Were  these  particulars,  thus  cir- 
cumstantially fulfilled,  merely  inci- 
dental coincidences,  or  were  they 
foreseen  and  foretold  as  events 
which  should  actually  and  literally 
take  place?  We  incline  to  the  opin- 
ion that  they  were  thus  foreseen 
and  foretold.  But  if  this  view  is  the 
correct  one,  here  and  in  a  few  other 
cases  we  must  remember  that  such 
a  minute  and  literal  specification  of 
apparently  unimportant  facts  which 
ai-e  to  be,'forms  no  essential  part  of 
the  prophet's  work.  It  belongs 
rather  to  the  art  of  the  conjuror 
than  to  the  inspiration  of  the  proph- 
et to  insist  on  such  verbal  coinci- 
dences. 8.  spread  their 
garments  in  the  way]  a  token 
of  extraoi'dinary  respect.  An  in- 
stance is  mentioned  by  Dr.  Robin- 
son, in  his  Biblical  Researches,  II.  p. 
162.  At  a  time  Avhen  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Bethlehem  were  in  deep  dis- 
tress on  account  of  some  oppressive 
act  of  the  government  in  1834  or 
1835,  "Mr.  Farran,  then  English 
Consul  at  Damascus,  was  on  a  visit 
to  Jerusalem,  and  had  rode  out  Avith 
Mr.  Nicolayson  to  Solomon's  Pools. 
On  their  return,  as  they  rose  the 
ascent  to  enter  Bethlehem,  hundreds 
of  the  people,  male  and  female,  met 
them,  imploring  the  consul  to  inter- 


fere in  their  behalf,  and  afford  them 
his  protection ;  and,  all  at  once,  by  a 
sort  of  simultaneous  movement,  they 
spread  their  garments  in  the  Avay 
before  the  horses.  The  consul  was 
affected  unto  tears  ;  but  had  of 
course  no  power  to  interfere."  The 
time  is  to  be  observed  in  the  Greek. 
The  very  gi'eat  multitude  spread 
(aorist)  their  garments  in  the  way, 
and  others  were  cutting  (imperfect) 
branches  from  the  ti-ees,  and  strew- 
ing them  in  the  way.  9. 
Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David] 
Save  now,  salvation  to  the  Son  of 
David,  —  a  term  which  seems  to 
have  been  given  to  the  Messiah. 
The  rest  of  the  sentence  is  from  Ps. 
cxviii.  26.  12.  Aveiit  into 
the  temple]  not  the  temple  proper, 
but  within  the  sacred  enclosure, 
where  the  mercenary  spirit  was 
cherished  Avhile  furnishing  doves 
for  sacrifice,  or  exchanging  at  a 
profit  the  money  with  which  the 
people  might  make  their  purchases 
for  sacrifice.  This  took  place  in 
the  outer  court,  or  court  of  the 
Gentiles.  "  By  the  authoritative 
act  of  cleansing  this  part  of  the 
temple,  our  Lord  not  only  testified 
liis  zeal  for  God's  house,  agreeably 
to  the  construction  put  on  it  by 
the  disciples  (John  ii.  17),  but  his 
zeal  for  the  Gentiles  also:  it  being 
a  Avay  of  teaching  by  action  that 
the  Gospel  was  open  to  them  as  well 
as  the  Jews."  Archbishop  New- 
come.  "  Our  blessed  Saviour,  who 
came  to  redeem,  not  the  Jews  only, 


MATTHEW   XXI.  369 

the  temple,  and  overthrew  the  tables  of  the  monfey-changers 

13  and  the  seats  of  them  that  sold  doves ;  and  said  unto  them^ 
It  is  written,  "  INIy  house  shall  be  called  the  house  of  prayer ; 

14  but  ye  have  made  it  a  den  of  thieves."     And  the  blind  and  the 

15  lame  came  to  him  in  the  temple,  and  he  healed  them.  And 
when  the  chief  priests  and  scribes  saw  the  wonderful  things 
that  he  did,  and  the  children  crying  in  the  temple,  and  saying, 
Hosanna  to  the   Son  of  David !  they  were  sore  displeased,  and 

16  said  unto  him,  Hearest  thou  what  these  say  ?  And  Jesus 
saith  unto  them,  Yea ;  have  ye  never  read,  "  Out  of  the 
mouth  of  babes  and  sucklings  thou  hast  perfected  praise  "  ? 

17  And  he  left  them,  and  went  out  of  the  city  into  Bethany,  and 
he  lodged  there. 

18  Now  in  the  morning,  as  he  i-eturned  into  the  city,  he  hun- 

19  gered.  And  when  he  saw  a  fig-tree  in  the  way,  he  came  to  it, 
and  found  nothing  thereon,  but  leaves  only ;  and  said  unto  it, 
Let  no  fruit  grow  on  thee  henceforward  forever.     And  pres- 


but  the  Gentiles  also,  and  to  make  fig-tree,  i.  e.  a  fig-tree  either  stand- 

them  a  principal  part  of  his  fold,  ing  by  itself  or  distinguished  from 

would  not  sufter  them  to  be  thus  others  by  its  leaves,  while  they  were 

neglected  ;   but  in  this   act  of  his  still  bare,  he  went  to  it  and  found 

gave  them  a  prceltidium  of  his  fur-  nothing  on  it  but  leaves.     Mark  says 

ther  favor  intended  towards  them;  that  it  was  not  yet  time  for  figs,  but 

and  he  that  was  to  vindicate  their  Jesus,  seeing   from   a  distance   this 

souls  from  death,   and   take  away  tree  covered  with  leaves,  may  have 

the  partition  wall  between  them  and  supposed  from  the  fact  of  its  having 

the  Jews,  first  vindicates  their  ora-  leaves,  that  as  one  of  the  early  kinds 

tort/ from  profanation."    Mede.     Ac-  it  might  have  fruit,  since  the  fruit 

cording   to  Mark,  this  cleansing   of  of  the  fig-tree  is  formed  before  the 

the  temple  did  not  take  place  till  leaves  come  out.     A  great  deal  of 

the  day  after  the  triumphant  entry,  learning  has  been  spent  on  this  pas- 

A  similar  cleansing  of  the  sacred  sage  Avith   little   profit.     Early  figs 

enclosure  occurred  near  the   com-  are  now  ripe  at  Jerusalem  in 'May. 

mencement,  as  this   was  near  the  Barclay's  City  of  the  Great  King, 

close,  of  our    Saviour's    ministry.  Let  no  fruit  grow 

(John  ii.  13-17.)                 13.  Two  on  thee  henceforward  forever] 

passages  from  the  prophets  are  here  "  And  yet  this  forevtr  has  its  mer- 

brought  together.     "  My  house  shall  ciful  1  imitation,  when  we  come  to 

be  called  a  house  of  prayer  for  all  transfer  the  curse  from  the  tree  to 

people,"  or,  as  in  Mark  xi.  17,  "  for  that  of  which   the   tree   was  as  a 

all  nations."  (Isa.  Ivi.  7.)     "Is  this  living  pai-able;  a  limitation  Avhicli 

house,  which  is  called  by  my  name,  the  word   itself  favors  and  allows. 

become  a  den  of  robbers  in  your     None  shall  eat  fruit  of  that 

eyes'?"  (Jer.  vii.  11.)  *  19.  tree  till  the  end  of  the  present  (EOft, 
And  when  he  saw  a  fig-tree]  not  until  these  times  of  the  Gentiles 
Jesus  had  come  from  Bethany  are  fulfilled."  Trench.  The  wither- 
early  in  the  morning,  and  apparent-  ing  of  the  fig-tree  from  its  very  roots 
ly  without  having  taken  any  food,  is  described  much  more  fully  and 
Being  huugiy,  and  seeing  a"  single  exactly  in  Mark  xi.  12  - 14,  20  -  26. 

X 


370 


MATTHEW    XXI. 


ently  the  fig-tree  withered  away.     And  when  the  disciples  saw  20 
it,  they  marvelled,  saying,  How  soon  is  the  fig-tree  withered 
away !     Jesus  answered  and   said  unto  them,  Verily  I  say  21 
unto  you,  if  ye  have  faith,  and  doubt  not,  ye  shall  not  only  do 
this  which  is  done  to  the  fig-tree,  but  also  if  ye  shall  say  unto 
this  mountain,  Be  thou  removed,  and  be  thou  cast  into  the 


Matthew  mentions  the  different 
parts  of  the  transaction,  and  the 
words  connected  with  it,  without 
any  reference  to  time,  as  if  all  had 
happened  at  once.  Mark  mentions 
the  visit  to  the  fig-tree  and  the  words 
of  Jesus,  "  Let  no  one  eat  fruit  of 
thee  hereafter,"  as  occurring  on  the 
morning  (Monday)  of  the  second 
visit  to  Jerusalem,  while  it  was  not 
till  the  morning  of  the  third  day,  or 
Tuesday,  that  the  disciples  'saw 
how  it"  had  withered  away,  and 
Jesus  added  his  remarks  on  the 
power  of  faith.  This  shows  how 
careful  we  must  be  about  assigning 
to  one  specific  date  facts  which  are 
found  related  together  without  any 
notice  of  a  change  of  time.  The 
important  words  and  events  (all  that 
can  be  essential  for  our  instruction) 
are  sometimes  brought  together 
under  a  single  head,  as  if  they  had 
all  occurred  at  once,  when  they  may 
in  fact  have  been  separated  from 
each  other  by  considerable  intervals 
of  time.  This  withering  of  the  fig- 
tree  stands  apart  from  all  the  rest 
of  our  Saviour's  miracles,  as  awoi'k 
of  destruction.  There  is  no  mark 
of  impatience  or  anger,  such  as 
some  critics  think  they  find  indi- 
cated by  it.  Amid  the  impressive 
and  solemn  imagery  which  Jesus  in 
those  last  days  is  throAving  around 
the  subject  by  his  terrible  words  of 
warning,  this  blasted  tree  stands 
forth  a  perpetual  type  and  symbol 
of  the  curse  of  death  which  rests 
on  all  unfruitful  lives,  whether  of 
nations  or  of  men.  Especially  did 
it  then  apply  to  the  Jews,  whose  po- 
litical history  was  drawing  rapidly 
to  a  close.  On  passing  the  spot  the 
next  day  (Mark  xi.  20),  the  disciples 
being  gi-eatly  impressed  by  what 
they  saw,  .Tesns  took  ooonsion  from 
it  to  repeat  (see  xviii.  I'J)  what  he 


had  before  taught  respecting  the 
power  of  fiiith  and  prayer.  In  Mark 
xi.  21,  Peter  says,  "  blaster,  behold 
the  fig-tree  Avhich  thou  didst  curse 
has  withered  away."  We  shrink 
from  applying  the  word  curse  to  any 
expression  used  by  oiir  Saviour.  It 
has  an  air  of  harshness  and  almost 
of  profaneness  in  our  language 
which  it  has  not  in  the  Greek.  In 
order  to  understand  its  meaning 
here,  we  have  only  to  bear  in  mind 
the  words  which  called  out  Peter's 
remark,  "  Let  no  man  eat  fruit  from 
thee  hereafter  forever  ;  "  or,  as  in 
Matthew,  "  Let  there  be  no  fruit 
from  thee  forever."  Neither  of 
these  expressions  implies  disap- 
pointment, vexation,  or  angei\  It 
is  only  the  calm  and  terrible  sen- 
tence'of  death  pronounced  upon  the 
unfruitful  tree,  as  a  symbol  of  the 
more  terrible  niin  which  must  fall 
on  man's  unfniitfulness.  It  was 
also,  as  the  words  following  show,  a 
proof  of  his  power  to  strengthen 
the  faith  of  the  disciples.  "  In 
view  of  the  dangers  that  suiTound- 
ed  them,"  says  Davidson,  Intr.  to 
New  Testament,  I.  p.  102,  "  this 
impressive  act  was  fitted  to  call 
forth  their  highest  faith  in  his 
ability  to  save  from  every  foe, 
whether  human  or  spiritual." 

21.  if  ye  shall  say  unto  this 
mountain,  Be  thou  removed] 
"  The  Jews  used  to  set  out  those 
teachers  among  them  that  were 
more  eminent  for  the  profoundness 
of  their  learning,  or  the  splendor  of 
their  virtues,  by  such  expressions 
as  this,  '  He  is  a  rooter  up  (or  a  re- 
mover) of  mountains.'  The  same 
expi-ession  Avith  Avhich  they  sillily 
and  flatteringly  extolled  the  learn- 
ing and  virtue  of  their  men,  Christ 
deservedly  useth  to  set  forth  the 
po AVer  of  "faith."     Lightfoot. 


MATTHEW    XXI. 


371 


22  sea  ;  it  shall  be  done.  And  all  things  whatsoever  ye  shall  ask 
in  prayer,  believing,  ye  shall  receive. 

23  And  when  he  was  come  into  the  temple,  the  chief  priests  and 
the  elders  of  the  people  came  unto  him  as  he  was  teaching, 
and  said,  By  what  authority  doest  thou  these  things  ?  and  who 

24  gave  thee  this  authority  ?  And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto 
them,  I  also  will  ask  you  one  thing  ;  which,  if  ye  tell  me,  I  in 
like  wise  will  tell  you  by  what  authority  I  do  these  things. 

25  The  baptism  of  John,  whence  was  it  ?  from  Heaven,  or  of  men  ? 
And  they  reasoned  with  themselves,  saying.  If  we  shall  say. 
From  Heaven ;  he  will  say  unto  us,  Why  did  ye  not  then  be-. 

26  lieve  him  ?     But  if  we  shall  say.  Of  men ;  we  fear  the  people ; 

27  for  all  hold  John  as  a  prophet.  And  they  answered  Jesus,  and 
said.  We  cannot  tell.     And  he  said  unto  them.  Neither  tell  I 

28  you  by  what  authority  I  do  these  things. But  what  think 

ye  ?     A  certain  man  had  two  sons  ;  and  he  came  to  the  first, 

29  and  said.  Son,  go  work  to-day  in  my  vineyard.  He  answered 
and  said,  I  will  not ;  but  afterward  he  repented,  and  went. 

30  And  he  came  to  the  second  and  said  likewise.     And  he  an-. 

31  swered  and  said,  I  go,  sir ;  and  went  not.     Whether  of  them 


22.  And  all  thin^rs  whatsoever 
ye  shall  ask  in  prayer,  believ- 
ing, ye  shall  receive]  "  As  re- 
spects the  idea  that  beheving  prayer 
will  be  heard,  St.  John  (xiv.  13;  xv, 
16;  xvi.  24)  has  given  it  in  its  com- 
plete form,  by  adding  the  clause  in 
my  name  (Comp.  on  Matt,  xviii.  19); 
for  in  that  clause  the  pure  origin  of 
such  prayer  is  traced  to  the  mind 
and  spiril  of  Jesus,  and  in  this  A'ery 
ori(fin  of  the  supplication  there  lies 
the  necessity  of  its  fulfilment." 
Olshausen.  "  Faith  in  God  would 
place  them  [the  disciples]  in  rela- 
tion with  the  same  power  Avhich  he 
wielded,  so  that  they  might  do 
mightier  things  even  than  this." 
Trench.  23-27.  And 

when  he  was  come  into  the 
temple]  Jesus  had  now,  Tuesdny 
morning,  entered  the  sacred  en- 
closiires  of  the  temple  (not  the 
temple  itself),  probal)ly  for  the  last 
time.  The  chief  priests  and  elders 
have  come  with  artfully  prejxired 
questions  to  entrap  him.  "  It  was," 
says  Alford,  "  an  official  message, 


sent  with  a  view  to  make  our 
Saviour  declare  himself  to  be  a 
prophet  sent  from  God,  —  in  which 
case  the  Sanhedrim  had  power  to 
take  cognizance  of  his  proceedings, 
as  of  a  professed  teacher."  The 
question  which  he  puts  to  them  by 
Avay  of  reply  confounds  and  baffles 
them  in  their  attempt,  and  opens 
the  way  for  the  condemnation 
which  he  by  the  two  ensuing  para- 
bles leads  them  (31-41)  indirectly 
to  pi'onounce  upon  themselves. 

28  -  32.  But  what  think  ye  ?] 
Here  you  are  making  your  profes- 
sions of  fidelity  to  God  ;  but  how 
does  it  seem  to  you?  A  certain 
man  had  two  sons,  &c.  Which  of 
the  two  did  the  will  of  his  father? 
They  say  unto  him,  The  first.  Even 
so,  is  the  reply  ;  the  very  publicans 
and  harlots,  who  Avere  at  first  dis- 
obedient to  God,  but  afterwards  be- 
lieved in  John  and  repented  at  his 
preaching,  shall  enter  the  king- 
dom of  God  sooner  than  you,  who 
with  all  your  professions  neither 
believed  in  him  at  first,  nor  after- 


372  MATTHEW  xxr. 

twain  did  the  will  of  his  father  ?  They  say  unto  him,  The 
first.  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  the 
publicans  and  the  harlots  go  into  the  kingdom  of  God  before 
you.  For  John  came  unto  you  in  the  way  of  righteousness,  32 
and  ye  believed  him  not ;  but  the  publicans  and  the  harlots 
believed  him ;  and  ye,  when  ye  had  seen  it,  repented  not  after- 
ward, that  ye  might  believe  him. Hear  another  parable :  33 

There  was  a  certain  householder,  which  planted  a  vineyard, 
and  hedged  it  round  about,  and  digged  a  wine-press  in  it,  and 
built  a  tower,  and  let  it  out  to  husbandmen,  and  went  into  a 
far  country.     And  when  the  time  of  the  fruit  drew  near,  he  34 
sent  his  servants  to  the  husbandmen  that  they  might  receive 
the  fruits  of  it.     And  the  husbandmen  took  his  servants,  and  35 
beat  one,  and  killed  another,  and  stoned  another.     Again,  he  36 
sent  other  servants,  more  than  the  first ;  and  they  did  unto 
them  likewise.     But  last  of  all  he  sent  unto  them  his  son,  say-  37 
ing.  They  will  reverence  my  son.      But  when  the  husband-  38 
men  saw  the  son,  they  said  among  themselves.  This  is  the 
heir  ;  come,  let  us  kill  him,  and  let  us  seize  on  his  inheritance. 
And  they  caught  him,  and  cast  him  out  of  the  vineyard,  and  39 
slew  him.     When  the  lord,  therefore,  of  the  vineyard  cometh,  40 


wards  repented  that  you  might  be-  door  near  the  ground,  and  a  level 

lieve,  Avhen  you  had   seen   him  in  space  on  the  top,  where  a  man  could 

the  way  of  righteousness.  sit  and  command  a  view  of  the  plan- 

33.  a  vineyard]     "  The  vinestock  tation."      Hackett.      According   to 

often    appears    on    the    Macabrean  Professor  Hackett,  these  towers  are 

coins   as  the  emblem  of  Palestine,  sometimes  forty  or  fifty  feet  high, 

sometimes,  too.  the  bunch  of  grapes  and  so  built  as  to  serve  for  houses, 

and  the  vine-leaf."      "  The   image  38.  come,  let  us  kill 

of  the  kingdom  of  God  as  a  vine-  him]     In  the  original  we  have  here 

stock,  or  as  a  vineyard,  runs  through  the  very  words  that  are  used  in  the 

the  whole   Old  testament.    (Deut.  Septuagint   (Gen.     xxxvii.   20)   by 

xxxii.32;  Ps.  Ixxx.  8-16  ;  Isa.  V    1  the   brothers   of  Joseph.     As   then 

-7;   xxvii.  1-7;  Jer.  ii.  21;   Ezek.  against    Joseph,    so    now     against 

XV.  l-6;xix.  10.)"  Trench.  AVecan-  Jesus,    counsel    had   already   been 

not  lay  much  stress  on  such  referen-  taken  (John  xi.  53)  to  destrov  him. 

ces.            a  tower]  i.  e.  a  watch-  40.  When  the*  lord, 

tower.     These  towers  "  first  caught  therefore]    "  We  may  observe  that 

my  attention  as  I  was  approaching  our  Lord  here  makes  ^UTien  (he  hu'd 

Bethlehem    from     the      southeast,  of  the  vineyard  cometh  coincide  with 

They  appeared  in  almost  every  field  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  which 

within    sight  from   that    dire"^etion;  is  unquestionably  the  overthrow  of 

they  were  circular  in  shape,  fifteen  the  wicked  husbandmen.     This  pas- 

or  twenty  feet  liigh,  and,  being  built  sage  forms,  therefore,  an  important 

of  stone,  looked,  at  a  distance,  like  key  to  our  Lord's  prophecies,  and  a 

a  little   forest  of  obelisks decisive  justification  for  those  who, 

Those  which  I  examined  had  fv  small  like  myself,  firmly  hold  that  the  com- 


MATTHEW    XXI. 


373 


41  what  will  he  do  unto  those  husbandmen  ?  They  say  unto  him, 
He  will  miserably  destroy  those  wicked  men ;  and  will  let  out 
his  vineyard  unto  other  husbandmen,  which  shall  render  him 

42  the  fruits  in  their  seasons.  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  Did  ye 
never  read  in  the  Scriptures,  "  The  stone  which  the  builders 
rejected,  the  same  is  become  the  head  of  the  corner ;  this  is 

43  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes  "  ?  There- 
fore say  I  unto  you,  the  kingdom  of  God  shall  be  taken  from 


ing  of  the  Lord  is,  in  many, cases,  to 
be  identilied  primarily  with  that 
overthrow."  Alford.  '  The  Lord  of 
the  vineyard  here  is  not  the  Son,  but 
He  who  sent  the  Son.  The  minute 
adjuncts  of  a  parable  are  not  to  be 
insisted  upon  in  any  interpretation 
we  may  put  upon  it.  41. 

They  say  unto  him]  The  lan- 
guage here  put  into  the  mouth  of 
those  standing  by  is  represented  by 
Mark  and  Luke  as  spoken  by  Jesus. 
Luke  (XX.  16)  adds,  that  "when 
they  heax'd  it,  they  said,  God  for- 
bid." De  Costa  in  The  Four  Wit- 
nesses, pp.  32,  33,  Edinburg  Edition, 
says,  "  Who  sees  not  that,  in  order 
to  explain  the  difference  between 
St.  Mark,  and  still  more  between 
St.  Luke  and  St.  Matthew,  we  must 
look  in  the  two  former  for  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  thing  actually  hap- 
pened; while  from  a  higher  point 
of  view  St.  Matthew's  narrative  ex- 
presses that  inward  conviction  felt 
by  the  enemies  of  Jesus  and  of  his 
truth,  which  compels  them  involun- 
tarily, in  their  own  consciences,  to 
justify  the  sentence  he  pronounces 
against  them?  "  We  have  no  right 
to  infer  any  such  purpose,  or  such 
insight  into  the  secret  thoughts  of 
men,  on  the  part  of  St.  MattheAv. 
We  rather  infer,  from  a  comparison 
of  the  different  narratives,  that  JLit- 
thew,  with  his  characteristic  exact- 
ness, here  relates  things  as  they 
actually  took  place,  —  that  Mark 
and  Luke  give  the  sentiment  of  this 
verse,  which  was  actually  spoken 
by  others,  as  coming  from  Jesus, 
since,  in  drawing  it  from  others  in 
the  manner  he  did,  he  in  fact  adopt- 
ed and  confirmed  it  as  his  own. 
And  though  the  bystanders  may 
32 


have  uttered  the  speech  here  at- 
tributed to  them,  they  also,  at  the 
thought  of  th«  terrible  example 
which  was  to  be  made  of  the  un- 
faithful, as  taught  by  Jesus  from 
their  own  lips,  may  have  added  the 
words,  /ii)  yeuoiTO,  "  may  it  not 
be,"  or,  ''heaven  avert  the  neces- 
sity of  such  an  infliction."  The 
whole  has  been  represented  in  a 
parable.  They  assent  to  the  dread- 
ful conclusion  ;  but  since  it  is  all 
represented  under  the  conditions  as- 
sumed in  the  parable,  they  couple 
their  assent  with  the  hope  oV  prayer 
that  a  state  of  things  requiring  such 
punishment  may  never  be.  It  is 
not  improbable  that,  after  their 
reply  in  Matthew,  Jesus,  in  words 
not  recorded  by  either  of  the  Evan- 
gelists, made  the  application  of  their 
sentence  more  directly  to  the  Jew- 
ish nation,  and  that  the  deprecating 
Avords,  Not  so,  or  God  foi^bid,  Avere 
then  called  from  them. 
43.  Therefore  I  say  unto  you] 
Therefore  refers  to  the  whole  previ- 
ous parable,  and  not  to  the  quotation 
alone.  Jesus,  accoi-ding  to  Luke 
XX.  9,  directed  this  parable  of  the 
wicked  husbandmen  rather  to  the 
people  than  to  the  priests  and 
scribes.  The  parable  itself  is  too 
plain  to  need  any  explanation,  being 
spoken  directly' against  the  Jewish 
people,  and  having  its  fiilfilment  in 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  In 
its  form  there  is  perhaps  a  reference 
to  Isa.  V.  1-7,  Avhich  Avould  make 
it  more  impressive  to  the  Jewish 
mind.  The  great  laAV  of  retribution, 
hoAvever,  Avhich  is  illustrated  by  it, 
and  applied  to  the  Jewish  nation,  is 
so  set  forth  as  to  be  a  Avarning  to 
all  those  who  live  unfaithful  to  their 


374 


MATTHEW    XXI. 


you,  and  given  to  a  nation  bringing  forth  the  fruits  thereof. 
And  whosoever  shall  fall  on  this  stone  shall  be  broken  ;  but  on  44 


religious  privileges.  For  a  moment, 
at  verse  42,  Jesus  leaves  the  wicked 
husbandmen,  who  have  slain  the 
son  and  heir,  and  carries  out  the 
subject  of  his  rejection  by  a  figure 
of  speech,  which  under  the  sanction 
of  what  the  Jews  regarded  as  a 
prophecy  of  the  Messiah,  Ps.  cxviii. 
22,  23,  shows  forth  not  only  his  re- 
jection, but  his  subsequent  promo- 
tion to  the  highest  place,  —  the 
chief  corner-stone.  (See  note  to 
verse  44.)  And  whosoever  falleth 
on  this  stone,  to  him  it  shall  be  a 
rock  of  stumbling  and  offence  on 
which  he  shall  be  bruised  and 
broken;  but  he  on  whom  in  his  per- 
verse and  obstinate  disobedience 
this  stone  shall  fiill,  it  shall  grind 
him  to  powder.  By  the  stone  is 
meant  Christ  himself,  the  impei-- 
sonation  of  his  religion  and  his 
kingdom,  which  shall  be  a  stum- 
bling-block on  which  some  shall 
foil  to  their  hurt,  and  which  shall 
fall  on  others  with  its  grinding  retri- 
butions. If  we  do  not  build  upon 
it  in  foith,  either  we  shall  foil  upon 
it  in  unbelief,  or  it  will  fall  on  us  in 
judgment.  ''  For  this  reason,''''  Jesus 
adds,  43,  referring  back  to  the  para- 
ble, i.  e.  becmise  this  religion  with 
its  righteous  retributions  bruises 
those  who  stumble  upon  it,  and  falls 
with  crushing,  grinding  power  on 
those  who  set  themselves  against  it; 
thtrefore  the  kingdom  of  God  shall 
be  taken  away  from  you,  and  given 
to  a  people,  i.  e.  the  tnie  followers 
of  Christ,  who  bring  forth  its  fitting 
fniits.  44.  And  whoso- 

ever shall  fall]  This  verse  is 
omitted  by  Tiscliendorf,  who  thinks 
it  has  been  interjiolated  from  Lixke 
XX.  18.  Griesbach  and  Alford  re- 
tain it.  Its  proper  place  is  between 
the  42d  and  43d  verses.  Verses  42 
and  44  have  been  thought  to  refer, 
not  only  to  Ps.  cxviii.  22,  23,  but  to 
Isa.  viii.  14,  xxviii.  16,  and  especi- 
ally to  Daniel  ii.  44,  45.  The  pas- 
sage from  the  Psalms  is  the  only 
one  distinctly  cited  in  this  place. 
It  is  also  cited  in  Acts  iv.  11.  The 
words  used  in  the  triumphal  entry, 


9,  "  Blessed  is  he  who  cometh  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord,"  are  from  the 
same  psalm.  "  Some  of  the  ancient 
Jews,"  says  Dr.  Noyes,  "  perhaps 
those  who  lived  in'  the  time  of 
Christ,  regarded  the  psalm  as  pro- 
phetic of  the  Messiah  ;  and  some 
supposed  that  Christ  and  the  Apos- 
tles regarded  it  as  such.  But  the 
most  common  opinion  of  interpreters 
is,  that  those  verses  are  quoted  only 
by  wa}'-  of  accommodation,  or  rhe- 
torical illustration,  or,  at  least,  are 
applied  to  Jesus  in  a  mystical,  not 
a  literal  sense."  In  opposition  to 
such  interpreters,  Stier  saj's,  "  He 
who  will  acknowledge  in  "^  the  Old 
Testament  no  foreseeing  sense  of 
the  Spii'it  transcending  the  human 
consciousness  of  the  prophets,  mov- 
ing above  the  typical  histories  and 
relations  in  independent  miraculous- 
power,   finds   the  just  recompense 

of  this  folse  inspiration-theory 

(especially  in  such  passages'as  that 
now  before  us),  in  a  most  unworthy 
degradation  of  the  words  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles  to  a  mere  play 
upon  Old  Testament  phrases  in  mo- 
ments of  most  exalted  and  holy 
earnestness."  A  favorable  speci- 
men of  the  mystical  interpretation 
which  prevailed  particularly  among 
the  early  fathers  is  to  be  found  in 
Cyprian's  Treatise  on  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  is  applied  to  this  quo- 
tation in  verse  42:  "  We  ought  to 
renew  our  prayers  again  at  the 
setting  of  the  sun,  and  the  close  of 
the  day.  For  because  Christ  is  tlie 
true  sun,  and  the  true  day.  when  at 
the  departure  of  the  sun  and  day 
we  pray  that  th.e  light  may  at  length 
come  again,  we  pray  for  the  com- 
ing of  Christ  who  shall  afford  the 
grnce  of  eternal  light.  But  that 
Christ  is  called  the  day,  the  Holy 
Spirit  declares  in  the^  Psalms." 
The  stone,  it  says,  Avhich  the  build- 
ers rejected  is  become  the  head  of 
the  corner.  By  the  Lord  this  was 
made,  and  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes. 
This  [or  he]  is  Uie  (/«?/ which' the 
Lord  hath  made;  let  us  walk  and 
rejoice  therein."     This  may  serve 


MATTHEW    XXI.  375 

45  whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it  will  grind  him  to  powder. And 

when  the  chief  priests  and  Pharisees  had  heard  his  parables, 

46  they  perceived  that  he  spake  of  them.  But  when  they  sought 
to  lay  hands  on  him,  they  feared  the  multitude  ;  because  they 
took  him  for  a  prophet. 

as  poetry  to  embellish  a  thought,  ing,   or  as   a  truthful    explanation 

or  as  rhetoric  to  commend  an  ex-  of  the  passage  above  quoted  from 

hortation,    but    it    can    hardly    be  Psalm  cxviii. 
soberly  accepted  as  sound  reason- 


376  MATTHEW    XXII.    1-14. 

CHAPTER    XXII. 

1-14.  The  Wedding  Feast. 

1-14.  A  SIMILAR  parable  to  this  of  the  Wedding 
Feast  is  given  in  Luke  xiv.  16-21:,  and  has  been  thought 
by  many  critics  to  be  the  same.  But  the  two  are  unlike 
in  so  many  particulars  that  they  may  be  considered  as 
separate  parables. 

The  parable  here  speaks  of  the  calling  of  the  Jews, 
their  neglect,  3,  they  would  not  come,  their  contemptuous 
indifference,  5,  they  made  light  of  it,  and  finally  their  in- 
sults and  murderous  cruelty,  for  which  the  king  sent  his 
armies  and  destroyed  their  city ;  —  foretelling  the  coming 
of  the  Roman  armies,  instruments  in  the  hands  of  God, 
whose  eagles  may  possibly  be  alluded  to  in  xxiv.  28,  and  by 
whom  the  great  city  of  the  Jews  should  be  burned  up. 
Jerusalem  Avas  destroyed  by  the  Romans  within  a  little  less 
than  forty  years  from  the  time  of  the  prediction.  From 
9  to  13  mention  is  made  of  the  Gospel  invitation,  which, 
since  the  Jews  refuse  it  (Acts  xiii.  46),  goes  to  all,  bad  and 
good,  with  its  offers  of  mercy,  and  would  gather  all  in  to 
the  marriage  feast.  But  it  must  be  remembered,  that 
though  all,  even  the  wicked,  are  called,  yet  there  are  con- 
ditions to  be  fulfilled,  and  that,  without  the  wedding  garment, 
"  the  internal  adornment  of  the  soul "  in  righteousness, 
the  very  guests  at  the  table  will  be  cast  out  from  the 
lighted  festal-room  into  the  outer  darkness  of  the  night, 
where  in  shame  and  grief  there  shall  be  wailing  and  gnash- 
ing of  teeth. 

We  would  call  attention  here  to  the  quiet  manner  in 
which  the  prophecy  rises  from  the  loss  of  national  privi- 
leges, and  an  earthly  retribution  to  the  fulfilment  of  that 


MATTHEW   XXII.    15-22.  377 

same  law  of  retribution  in  the  judgments  of  another 
world.  Intervals  of  time  vanish  away.  The  boundaries 
between  this  life  and  that  which  is  to  be  are  disregarded. 
The  spiritual  insight  of  our  Lord,  following  the  great 
laws  of  God's  kingdom  on  to  their  results,  whether  in 
the  conduct  of  individuals  or  nations,  fixes  itself  on  national 
ruin  here,  and  exclusion  from  the  society  of  the  redeemed 
hereafter,  as  the  condition  of  the  unfaithful,  without  any 
broad  line  of  distinction  to  separate  them  from  each  other, 
as  if  they  belonged  to  two  different  orders  of  events. 
The  sharp  distinctions  between  this  world  and  another, 
or  this  life  and  another,  which  enter  into  all  our  thoughts, 
do  not  seem  to  have  had  the  same  place  in  his  mind. 
He  looked  through  both  alike,  and  saw  in  both  alike  the 
operation  of  the  same  divine  principles  and  laws.  His 
kingdom,  having  its  seat  in  the  soul  of  every  follower 
here,  receives  and  cherishes  within  itself  all  faithful  souls, 
whether  on  earth  or  in  heaven.  So  as  his  thought  reaches 
alike  through  seen  and  unseen  worlds,  facts  which  in  their 
outward  surroundings  seem  to  us  to  belong  to  entirely 
distinct  orders  of  events,  are  in  his  mind  and  language 
intimately  connected  together,  as  brought  about  by  the  same 
laws.  The  shadows  of  time  which  imprison  us  within  this 
material  world,  and  make  us  look  on  all  that  hes  beyond 
as  of  a  character  entirely  different,  never  with  him  separate 
causes  from  their  effects,  or  deeds  done  in  the  body  from 
their  legitimate  results,  whether  in  this  world  or  that  which 
shall  succeed. 


15-22.  Payixg  Tribute  to  C^sar. 

15-22.  The  Pharisees,  foiled  in  their  previous  attempt 
(xxi.  23)  to  entrap  Jesus,  hold  a  consultation,  and  in  their 
extreme  craftiness  lay  a  snare  for  him  which  they  believe 
it  will  be  impossible  for  him  to  escape.  The  leading  men 
keep  in  the  background.  But  they  have  arranged  their 
32* 


378  MATTHEW    XXII.    15-22. 

measures  with  the  Herodians,  who,  though  usually  their 
enemies,  are  now  brought  to  act  together  with  them  by 
their  common  hatred  against  Jesus.  The  Pliarisees  did 
not  believe  in  paying  tribute  to  the  Romans ;  the  Herodians 
were  the  creatures  of  a  dynasty  established  and  sustained 
by  the  Roman  government.  The  disciples  of  the  Phari- 
sees, and  the  Herodians,  "spies"  Luke  calls  them,  were 
to  come  as  if  engaged  in  a  dispute  on  this  subject,  and  to 
refer  the  question  to  him  as  to  one  of  such  impartiality, 
truthfulness,  and  wisdom,  that  they  are  willing  to  abide  by 
his  decision.  "Is  it  right,"  they  ask,  "to  pay  tribute  to 
Caesar  or  not  ?  "  If  he  should  answer.  No,  then  the  Hero- 
dians are  ready  to  charge  him  with  rebellion  against  the 
Roman  government,  and  his  destruction  is  sure.  If  he 
should  say.  Yes,  then  the  Pharisees  will  make  use  of  his 
reply  to  turn  the  popular  prejudices  of  the  Jews  against  him, 
and  destroy  his  authority  with  them.  But  he  saw  through 
their  artful  disguise,  and,  with  words  which  laid  open  their 
hypocrisy,  asked  them  to  bring  him  the  tribute  money. 
Pointing  out  to  them  the  image  and  superscription  of  Cassar, 
he  said,  "  Render  unto  Caesar  the  things  which  are  Csesar's, 
and  unto  God  the  things  which  are  God's."  He  is  not  satis- 
fied with  simply  baffling  them  in  their  inquiries,  and  sending 
them  away  confounded  and  silenced,  but  in  his  reply  he 
lays  down  a  broad  and  most  important  principle  of  conduct. 
Give  to  the  government  the  money  and  the  allegiance  which 
are  due  to  it,  but  let  it  be  done  in  accordance  with  the 
higher  allegiance  and  the  more  unqualified  obligations 
by  which  you  are  bound  to  him  in  whose  image  you  have 
been  created.  By  uniting  the  two,  he  shows  that  the  lesser 
obligation  is  to  be  limited  and  explained  by  the  greater. 

They  who  put  the  question  had  supposed  that  he  must 
join  himself  either  to  one  side  or  the  other.  But,  as  has 
been  finely  said,  "the  very  peculiarity,  the  very  proof  of 
the  divinity  of  his  doctrine,  was  that  they  could  not  square 
it   with   any  of  their   existing  systems.     It  was   with   his 


MATTHEW   XXII.    23-31.  379 

doctrine,  as  it  was  in  the  legendary  tale  wliicli  describes 
how  the  tree  of  the  wood  of  the  True  Cross  had  been  of 
old  rejected,  because  it  would  not  fit  into  the  building  of 
the  ancient  temple.     It  was  too  long  for  one  corner,  it  was 

too  short  for  another And  so  it  was  laid  aside  till 

it  came  forth  at  last  to  be  the  means  and  symbol  of  the 
world's  redemption."  "  The  true  Creed  of  the  Church, 
the  true  Gospel  of  Christ,  is  to  be  found,  not  in  proportion 
as  it  coincides  with  the  watchwords  or  the  dilemmas  of 
modern  controversy,  but  rather  in  proportion  as  it  rises 
above  them  and  cuts  across  them.  How  often  are  we 
told  that  we  must  be  either  Pharisees  or  Herodians ;  that 

we  must  follow  everything  to  its  logical  extreme 

But  there  is  a  '  right  division  of  the  word  of  truth,'  —  there 
is  a  middle  way  of  religion,  which,  not  from  weakness,  not 
from  indolence,  not  from  halting  between  two  opinions, 
but  from  sincere  love  of  Christ,  and  from  desire  to  conform 
ourselves  to  his  image,  we  may  humbly  desire  to  walk."  — 
/Stanley's    Canterbury/  Sermons,  pp.  112,  113. 

23  -  33.  The  Resurrection  from  the  Dead. 

23-31.  The  Pharisees,  amazed  and  wondering,  left  Jesus. 
They  believed  in  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  But  the 
Sadducees,  who  say  that  there  is  no  resurrection,  "  neither 
angel  nor  spirit"  (Acts  xxiii.  8),  came  with  a  question 
which  they  believed  would  be  wholly  unanswerable.  A 
woman  who  has  had  seven  husbands, —  "in  the  resurrec- 
tion, whose  wife  shall  she  be?"  We  may  imagine  the 
cunning,  sharp,  triumphant  look  with  which  these  closing 
words  were  uttered.  Jesus  did  not  argue  with  them  after 
their  own  fashion,  but  in  one  of  the  most  instructive  pas- 
sages in  the  New  Testament,  in  the  calmness  and  depth 
of  his  spiritual  insight,  he  pointed  out  to  them  how  utterly 
they  had  been  mistaken,  not  knowing  either  the  Scriptures 
or  the  power  of  God.     From  that  day  to  this  a  class  of 


380  MATTHEW   XXII.    23  -  33. 

keen,  but  shallow  and  conceited  men,  sometimes  nominally 
as  friends  and  sometimes  as  enemies  of  our  religion,  have 
founded  their  objections  to  Christian  doctrines  or  to  Chris- 
tianity itself  on  this  double  mistake,  attributing  to  the 
Scriptures  what  the  Scriptures  do  not  teach,  and  shutting 
up  the  power  of  the  Almighty  within  the  limits  of  their 
narrow,  short-sighted  conceptions.  In  no  particular  perhaps 
has  this  been  more  remarkable  than  with  the  two  classes 
represented  by  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees ;  —  the  latter 
denying  altogether  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  the 
former  believing,  as  Martha  did  (John  xi.  24),  in  the  resus^ 
citation  of  the  body  at  a  general  resurrection  in  the  last 
day.  The  reply  of  Jesus,  while  directed  against  the  Saddu- 
cees, is  so  framed  as  to  meet  both  these  classes.  Though 
the  great  laws  of  spiritual  life  prevail  in  all  worlds  alike,  it 
will  not  do,  he  says  in  substance,  to  carry  into  the  world 
to  come  the  limitations  and  connections  which  here  grow 
out  of  our  sensuous  and  material  organization.  "  The  sons 
of  this  world  are  given  in  marriage,"  but  in  the  resurrection, 
"when  (Mark  xii.  25)  they  rise  from  the  dead,"  "they 
(Luke  XX.  35,  36)  who  shall  be  accounted  worthy  to 
obtain  that  world,  and  the  resurrection  from  the  dead, 
neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage ;  neither  can  they 
die  any  more ;  for  they  are  as  angels,  and  are  children 
of  God,  being  children  of  the  resurrection."  The  sublime 
view  which  is  here  opened  to  us  of  that  world,  and  the 
spiritual  relations  which  alone  prevail  there,  ought  to  banish 
forever  from  our  minds  all  thought  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  present  body,  with  its  outward,  material  organization. 
31  -  33.  But  lest  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  should 
still  be  misunderstood,  Jesus  quotes  from  the  sacred  writ- 
ings which  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  alike  reverence,  a 
passage  (Ex.  iii.  6)  which  not  only  implies  the  fact  of 
a  resurrection  of  the  dead,  such  as  the  Sadducees  denied, 
but  which  also  proves,  in  opposition  to  the  belief  of  the 
Pharisees,  that  the  dead  are  already  risen.     As  touching 


MATTHEW   XXII.   34-40.  381 

the  resurrection  of  the  dead"  (Matthew),  " concerning  the 
dead  that  they  are  raised"  (Mark),  "that  the  dead  are 
raised,  even  Moses  showed  at  the  bush  "  (Luke).  For  as 
the  Lord  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living,  so 
when  he  called  himself  the  God  of  Abraham  and  Isaac  and 
Jacob,  he  declared  by  this  form  of  speech  that  they  were 
then  risen  from  the  dead,  "for  all  (Luke  xx.  38)  live  unto 
him."  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  when  Martha  said 
(John  xi.  24),  "I  know  that  hei  shall  rise  again  in  the 
resurrection  at  the  last  day,"  Jesus  immediately  corrected 
this  view  of  a  distant  resurrection  by  announcing  the  true 
doctrine  of  a  spiritual,  uninterrupted,  eternal  life.  "  I  am 
the  resurrection  and  the  life."  "And  whosoever  liveth 
and  believeth  in  me  shall  never  die." 


34-40.  The  Two  Great  Commandments. 

34-40.  The  lawyer  who  put  the  question.  Which  is  the 
great  commandment  in  the  law?  may  have  supposed  that 
Jesus  would  propose  some  precept  of  his  own  as  more 
important  than  any  commandment  in  the  law,  and  thus 
lay  himself  open  to  the  condemnation  of  the  Jews.  But 
in  reply  to  their  captious  questioning,  he  brings  out  from 
the  law  itself  (Deut.  vi.  5  ;  Levit.  xix.  18)  two  precepts, 
which  contain  within  themselves  the  substance  of  all  our 
duties  to  God  and  man,  —  of  all  that  has  been  taught  by  the 
law  and  the  prophets. 

Thus  the  enemies  of  Jesus  could  not  question  him  in 
their  craftiness  and  malice,  without  being  astonished  and 
overwhelmed  by  some  principle  of  Divine  truth.  He  did 
not  answer  them  according  to  their  folly,  but  took  advantage 
of  the  occasions  which  they  made  to  expound  our  relation 
to  human  governments  and  to  God,  to  unfold  the  true 
doctrine  of  the  eternal  life,  and  to  set  vividly  before  us 
the  Slim  and  substance  of  our  duties  to  God  and  man. 


382  MATTHEW   XXII.    41-45. 

41-45.  CimisT'THK  Son  of  David. 

41  -  45.  There  are  those  who  believe  that  Jesus  here 
intended  nothing  more  than  to  silence  and  confound  his 
enemies.  "  Alike  from  the  terms  of  the  conversation  and 
from  its  context,"  says  Dr.  Palfrey  in  his  Relation  between 
Judaism  and  Christianity,  p.  108,  "  I  infer  that  the  object 
of  Jesus  was  not  to  prove  or  disprove  anything,  but  simply 
to  perplex  the  Pharisees,  and  show  to  the  bystanders 
what  incompetent  teachers  they  were,  and  what  shallow 
and  unskilful  interpreters  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures." 
Hase  says,  "  He  (Jesus)  proved  to  them  his  dialectical 
embarrassment  by  proposing  a  sophistical  question  on  the 
Messianic  signification  of  Psalm  ex."  But  as  Jesus,  in 
reply  to  the  captious  questions  which  his  enemies  have 
put  to  him,  has  taken  occasion  to  unfold  or  announce  to 
them  great  and  important  principles  of  political  duty  and  of 
moral  and  religious  life,  and  to  silence  them,  not  by  so- 
phistical reasonings  after  their  own  fashion,  but  by  the  pro- 
found and  majestic  truths  which  he  uttered,  is  it  probable 
that  now,  when  they  are  all  silenced,  he  of  his  own  accord 
would  propose  a  question  respecting  a  passage  in  their 
sacred  writings  with  no  higher  purpose  than  to  perplex 
them  and  show  off  their  incompetency  as  religious  teachers  ? 
Unless  the  language  pretty  decisively  indicates  this  design 
on  his  part,  we  should  be  slow  to  believe  it.  It  is  not 
countenanced  by  his  conduct  on  any  other  occasion. 

What  then  is  the  true  interpretation  of  this  passage? 
Jesus  has  already  been  announced  publicly  as  the  Messiah, 
and  the  last  day  of  his  public  ministry  has  now  come. 
But  all  the  Jews,  his  friends  hardly  less  than  his  enemies, 
view  the  Messiah  as  an  earthly  king,  exercising  a  wider 
and  holier  sway  than  any  king  who  had  gone  before,  but 
still  an  earthly  dominion.  Jesus  would  prepare  the  way 
for  the  overthrow  of  these  erroneous  ideas.  But  they 
will  not  receive  plain  instructions,  or  a  direct  contradiction 


MATTHEW    XXII.    41-45.  383 

of  prejucHces  so  deeply  rooted  in  their  minds.  He  can 
reach  them  only  through  their  Jewish  habits  of  thought. 
He  therefore  asks  them,  "  What  think  ye  of  the  Christ/* 
i.  e.  the  Messiah  or  the  Anointed  One  ?  "  "  Whose  son  is 
he  ? "  They  say  unto  him,  "  The  son  of  David."  "  How- 
then,"  he  asks,  "  doth  David  in  spirit  call  him  Lord,  saying 
(Ps.  ex.  1),  Jehovah  said  unto  my  Lord?"  &c.  "If  David 
then  call  him  Lord,  how  is  he  his  son?"  These  ques- 
tions are  put  by  Jesus  in  regard  to  the  interpretation  of 
a  psalm  which  all  around  him  regarded  as  a  prediction 
of  the  Messiah,  and  they  are  put  in  such  a  way  as  to  show 
that  the  construction  which  they  pat  upon  these  words 
is  wholly  inconsistent  with  the  fact  certainly  established 
by  their  prophetic  writings  that  the  Messiah  was  to  be 
of  the  seed  of  David.  As  no  one  among  the  learned 
Pharisees  and  lawyers  could  explain  the  contradiction, 
would  not  his  friends  at  least,  and  might  not  some  even  of 
his  enemies,  be  led  to  reconsider  the  whole  matter,  and 
to  admit  diiferent  and  higher  views  of  the  Messiah  and 
his  kingdom,  when  the  spiritual  claims  and  authority  of 
Jesus  should  be  more  distinctly  presented?  "There  is 
certainly,"  they  would  say  to  themselves,  and  perhaps  among 
themselves,  "a  difficulty  here.  These  iwo  views  of  ours 
cannot  be  harmonized  with  one  another.  If  the  Messiah 
is  really,  and  on  this  point  there  can  be  no  question,  the 
son  of  David,  and  David  nevertheless  looks  up  to  him 
with  reverence  and  calls  him  Lord,  may  it  not  be  that  he 
and  his  kingdom  are  of  a  more  exalted  and  divine  charac- 
ter than  we  have  supposed  ?  And  these  wonderful  works 
which  are  attributed  to  Jesus,  his  resurrection  from  the 
dead,  his  ascension  into  heaven,  and  the  everlasting:  kin"-- 
dom  which  he  professed  to  establish,  —  the  kingdom  of 
God  or  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  —  may  it  not  be  that  these 
after  all  are  the  true  fulfilment  of  the  ancient  prophecies?" 
Those  who  were  disposed  to  follow  Jesus,  and  some  of  the 
more  thoughtful  even  among  his  enemies  might  be  led  into 


884  MATTHEW    XXII. 

reflections  of  this  kind.  A  doubt  lodged  in  the  mind  by  a 
pertinent  and  suggestive  question  will  often  do  more  in  the 
end  to  remove  a  deeply  rooted  prejudice  and  to  revolution- 
ize all  one's  habits  of  thought  than  any  specific  instructions 
or  reasonings  on  the  subject.  A  doubt  thus  introduced  into 
the  mind  is  like  the  water  which  is  sometimes  poured 
into  the  clefts  of  a  granite  ledge,  and  which  freezing  there 
rends  the  whole  mass  asunder,  when  direct  and  violent 
efforts  to  split  it  would  be  wholly  unavailing. 

These   views    of   the   passage   agree   substantially   with 
those  of  Campbell,  Kuinoel,  and  Norton. 


NOTES. 


And  Jesus  answered  and  spake  unto  them  again  by  parables, 
and  said,  The  kingdom  of  Heaven  is  like  unto  a  certain  king,  2 
which  made  a  marriage  for  his  son,  and  sent  forth  his  servants   3 
to  call  them  that  were  bidden  to  the  wedding ;  and  they  would 
not  come.     Again,  he  sent  forth  other  servants,  saying.  Tell  4 
them  which  are  bidden.  Behold,  I  have  prepared  my  dinner ; 
my  oxen  and  my  fatlings  are  killed,  and  all  things  are  ready ; 
come  unto  the  marriage.     But  they  made  light  of  it,  and  went   5 
their  ways  ;  one  to  his  farm,  another  to  his  merchandise.     And   6 
the  remnant  took  his  servants,  and  entreated  them  spitefully, 
and  slew  them.   But  when  the  king  heard  thereof,  he  was  wroth ;   7 


1.  answered  ]      "  Not   only  he  a  rebuke  in  the  expression  itself  to 

who  has   been  questioned,  but   he  those  who  would  shroud  his  relig- 

also  to  whom  a  reason  for  speaking  ion  in  gloom !                    3.  to  call 

has  been  given,  may  rightly  be  said  them    that    ivere    hidden  ]      It 

to  answer."                       2.  a  mar-  seems   to  have  been  customary^   in 

riage]     Any  great  celebration    or  the  East  (Esther  v.  8;  vi.  14)  to  send 

festival  was '  so  called.     The  acces-  a  second  time  to  call  those  who  had 

sion  of  a  prince  to  his  tlu'one  was  already  been  invited  to  a  feast.     In 

called  the  marriage  of  a  king  with  this  case,  as  there  might  have  been 

his  people.     "  Blessed  are  they  Avho  some   mistake    in  the   matter,   the 

are  called  unto  the  man-iage  supper  king  sends,  4,  the  third  time  a  still 

of  the  Lamb."    (Rev.  xix.  9.)     How  more  pressing  call.                  7.  But 

often  does  Jesus  set  forth  this  festive  when  the  king  heard  thereof, 

character  of  his  religion,  and  what  he    was    wroth]      "  Among   the 


MATTHEW   XXII. 


385 


and  lie  sent  forth  his  armies,  and  destroyed  those  murderers, 

8  and  burned  up  their  city.  Then  saith  he  to  his  servants,  The 
wedding  is  ready,  but  they  which  were  bidden  were  not  worthy. 

9  Go  ye  therefore  into  the  highways ;  and  as  many  as  ye  shall 

10  find,  bid  to  the  marriage.  So  those  servants  went  out  into  the 
highways,  and  gathered  together  all,  as  many  as  they  found, 
both  bad  and  good ;  and  the  wedding  was  furnished  with  guests. 

11  And  when  the  king  came  in  to  see  the  guests,  he  saw  there  a 

12  man  which  had  not  on  a  wedding  garment  5  and  he  saith  unto 
him.  Friend,  how  earnest  thou  in  hither,  not  having  a  wedding 

13  garpaent  ?     And  he  was  speechless.      Then  said  the  king  to 


^Mohammedans,  refusal  to  come  to 
a  maiTiage  feast,  when  invited,  is 
considered  a  breach  of  the  law 
of  God.  Hedaya,  Vol.  IV.  p.  91. 
It  was  probably  considered  in  this 
light  among  all  the  Oriental  na- 
tions." Ad.  Clarke.  9. 
and  as  many  as  ye  shall  find] 
Pococke  says,  "  that  an  Arab  prince 
will  often  dine  before  his  door,  and 
call  to  all  that  pass,  even  to  beggars, 
in  the  name  of  God,  and  they  come 
and  sit  down  to  table,  and  Avhen 
they  have  done  retire  with  the  usual 
form  of  returning  thanks.  It  is  al- 
Avajs  customary  among  the  Ori- 
entals to  provide  more  meats  and 
drinks  than  are  necessary  for  the 
feast,  and  then  the  poor  who  pass 
by,  or  whom  the  nimor  of  the 
feast  brings  to  the  neighborhood, 
are  called  in  to  consume  what  re- 
mains. This  they  often  do  in  an 
outer  room  to  which  the  dishes  are 
removed  from  the  apartment  in 
which  the  invited  guests  have  feast- 
ed ;  or,  otherwise,  every  invited 
guest,  when  he  has  done,  with- 
draws from  table,  when  his  place  is 
taken  by  another  person  of  inferior 
rank,  and  so  on,  till  the  poorest 
^come  and  consume  the  Avhole."  J. 
'  Cobbin.  10.  bad  and 
g:ood]  are  alike  invited  and  brought 
ill  (xiii.  47),  with  the  expectation, 
however,  that  all  will  become  fitted 
for  tlie  companionship  of  those  who 
are  there.  11.  a  wedding 
garment]  It  is  disputed  among 
the  critics  whether  the  master  of 
the  feast  usually  had  such  garments 
33 


distributed  among  the  guests,  to  be 
worn  as  a  badge  or  token  of  their 
right  to  a  place  at  the  festival.  There 
is  no  sufficient  evidence  in  the  Old 
Testament  of  such  a  custom.  The 
passages  quoted  bv  Stier  (Gen.  xlv. 
22;  Jud.  xiv.  12;  2  Kings  v.  22)  are 
not  to  the  point.  It  seems,  how- 
ever, to  be  implied  in  the  passage 
before  us,  and  the  custom,  Ave  be- 
lieve, still  exists  in  the  East.  "  We 
may  and  ought,  when  he  calls,  to 
come  just  as  we  are  ;  but  A^e  may 
not,  if  we  Avould  see  his  face  and 
enjoy  his  last  feast,  remain  as  Ave 
are."  "  As  the  king  clothes  his 
guests,  the  bridegroom  his  bride,  so 
does  God  himself  clothe  us  Avith 
the  robe  of  righteousness  and  gar- 
ment of  salvation,"  if  Ave  only  Avill 
receiA'e  it  Avith  humble  and  faithful 
hearts.  The  Avedding  garment  is 
spoken  of  in  Eev.  xix.  7,  8  :  "  For 
the  marriage  of  the  Lamb  is  come, 
and  his  Avife  hath  made  herself 
ready.  And  to  her  a\Tis  granted  that 
she  should  be  arrayed  in  fine  linen, 
clean  and  Avhite;  for  the  fine  linen 
is  the  righteousness  of  the  saints." 
12.  Friend]  'EraTpe, 
comrade.  A  Avord  of  ambiguous 
meaning,  Avhich  may  be  addressed 
to  an  intimate  friend,  and  also  to 
those  Avith  Avhom  Ave  are  not  on 
terms  of  intimacy.  And 

he  Avas  speech'less]  He  had  no 
Avord  of  explanation  or  excuse  to 
giA-e  for  having  put  himself  among 
the  Avedding  guests  Avithout  the  Aved- 
ding  garment,  —  for  having  come 
without    the    fitting    preparation. 


386 


MATTHEW    XXir. 


the  servants,  Bind  him  hand  and  foot,  and  take  him  away, 
and   cast   him   into  outer  darkness;    there  shall  be  weeping 
and  gnashing  of  teeth.      For  many  are  called,  but  few  are  14 
chosen. 

Then  went  the  Pharisees,  and  took  counsel  how  they  might   15 
entangle  him  in  his  talk.     And  they  sent  out  unto  him  their  dis-  16 
ciples,  with  the  Herodians,  saying,  Master,  we  know  that  thou 
art  true,  and  teachest  the  way  of  God  in  truth,  neither  carest 
thou  for  any  man ;   for  thou  regardest  not  the  person  of  men. 
Tell  us  therefore,  What  thinkest  thou  ?    is  it  lawful  to  give  n 
tribute  unto  Csesar,  or  not  ?     But  Jesus  perceived  their  wick-  is 
edness,  and  said.  Why  tempt  ye  me,  ye  hypocrites  ?     Shew 
me  the  tribute  money.     And  they  brought  unto  him  a  penny.  19 


All,  bad  and  good,  were  invited  ; 
but  some  preparation  of  heart  was 
needed,  before  they  could  properly 
accept  the  call.  13.  bind 

him  hand  and  foot]  These  mi- 
nor particulars  in  the  parable  are 
not  of  course  to  be  literally  inter- 
preted and  applied.  As  the  guest 
who  had  here  numbered  himself 
among  the  chosen  ones  had  not  the 
qualities  which  would  fit  him  for  a 
place  at  the  mai-riage  feast  of  the 
Lnmb,  he  could  find  no  freedom  or 
pleasure  or  fellowship  there,  but  by 
the  very  condition  of  his  heart,  and 
the  affinities  of  his  nature,  helpless 
and  dumb,  like  one  speechless  and 
bound  hand  and  foot,  he  is  shut  out 
from  their  society,  and  left  in  the 
oviter  darkness  and  sorrow  in  which 
his  soul  must  dwell.  outer 

darkness]  Those  who  left  the 
lighted  hall  of  the  marriage  feast, 
were  sent  out  into  the  outer  dark- 
ness of  the  night,  —  a  figure  of 
speech  to  describe  the  darkness  of  a 
soul  shut  out  from  the  light  and 
warmth  of  God's  truth  and  love. 
14.  For  many  are  called, 
but  few  are  chosen]  ( See  Kote 
XX.  16.)  Though  all  are  invited, 
yet  few  so  accept  the  call,  and  use 
the  means  of  salvation,  as  to  be 
numbered  among  the  chosen  ones. 
These  Avords  apply  to  the  whole 
parable,  and  not  merely  to  its  clos- 
ing sentence.  The  idea  is  the  same 
as  in  ]\Iatthew  vii.  14,  and  refers  to 


the  difficulties  whichlie  in  the  way 

of  those  who  would  follow  Christ. 

16.  Avith  the  Herodians] 

Little  is  known  of  the  Herodians. 
They  were  a  political  rather  than  a 
religious  sect.  They  were  attached 
to  the  party  of  Herod,  and  of  course 
supporters"  of  the  Roman  govern- 
ment. Their  usual  position  was 
one  of  hostility  to  the  Pharisees. 
But  wherever  they  are  mentioned 
in  the  Gospels  (Mark  iii.  6;  xii.  13), 
they  are  acting  Avith  the  Pharisees 
against  Jesus.  Some  little  light, 
but  not  much,  is  thrown  upon  their 
history  by  Josephus,  Antiq.  XVH. 
3.  Their  flattering  address  here 
savors  of  political  cunning,  and  is 
in   keeping  Avith   their   position  as 

courtiers Hoav  terrible   to 

such  men  the  reply  of  Jesus,  seeing 
as  he  did  through'  their  Avicked  de- 
sign. 19.  the  tribute 
money]  a  Koman  coin,  denarius. 
There  Avas  also  another  coin  (xvii. 
24-27)  Avhich  Avould  seem  to  haA'e 
been  used  for  temple  money.  Some 
have  supposed  that  the  reply  of 
Jesus  related  merely  to  these  tAvo 
kinds  of  coins,  one  of  which  Avas  to 
be  paid  to  Ca\sar,  and  the  other  to 
God.  But  his  reply  goes  deeper 
than  this,  even  if  it  does  not  tacitly 
refer  to  man  as  bearing  in  his  image 
and  superscription  the  same  relation 
to  God  Avhich  the  penny  bears  to  Cae- 
sar. The  tribute  money,  —  "  it  has 
been  often  described;  it  may  still  be 


MATTHEW   XXII.  387 

20  And  he  saith  unto   them,  Whose  is   this  image   and   super- 

21  scription  ?  They  say  unto  him,  Csesar's.  Then  saith  he  unto 
them,   Render  therefore   unto    Cassar   the   things   which   are 

22  Ca3sar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's.  When 
they  had  heard  these  words,  they  marvelled,  and  left  him,  and 
went  their  way. 

23  The  same  day  came  to  him  the  Sadducees,  which  say  that 

24  there  is  no  resurrection,  and  asked  him,  saying.  Master, 
Moses  said,   "If  a  man  die,  having  no  children,  his  brother 

25  shall  marry  his  wife,  and  raise  up  seed  unto  his  brother."  Now 
there  were  with  us  seven  brethren ;  and  the  first,  when  he  had 
married  a  wife,  deceased ;  and,  having  no  issue,  left  his  wife 

26  unto  his  brother.     Likewise  the  second  also,  and  the  third, 

27  unto   the   seventh.      And   last   of  all   the  woman  died   also. 

28  Therefore,  in  the  resurrection,  whose  wife  shall  she  be  of  the 

29  seven  ?  for  they  all  had  her.  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto 
them.  Ye  do  err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures,  nor  the  power 

30  of  God.  For  in  the  resurrection  they  neither  marry,  nor  are 
given  in  marriage,  but  are  as  the  angels  of  God  in  heaven. 

31  But  as  touching  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  have  ye  not  read 

32  that  which  was  spoken  unto  you  by  God,  saying,  "I  am  the 
God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Ja- 
cob"?    God  is  not  the  God  of  the   dead,  but  of  the  living. 

33  And  when  the  multitude  heard  this,  they  were  astonished  at 
his  doctrine. 

34  But  when  the  Pharisees  had  heard  that  he  had  put  the  Sad- 

35  ducees  to  silence,  they  were  gathered  together.  Then  one  of 
them,  which  was  a  lawyer,   asked  him  a  question,  tempting 

36  him,  and   saying.  Master,  which  is  the  great  commandment 

37  in  the  law  ?  Jesus  said  unto  him,  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with 


seen,  —  the  little  silver  coin,  bear-  Augustus,  son  of  the  divine  Augus- 

ing  on  its  surface  the  head  encii-cled  tus,  Emperor."   Stanley.        30.  are 

with  a  wreath  of  laurel  and  bound  as  the  angelsof  God  in  heaven] 

round  with  the  sacred  fillet,  —  the  as  angels  of  God   in  heaven,  not  as 

well-known  features,  the  most  beau-  the  angels.     They  are   not   like  the 

tiful  and  the  most  wicked,  even  in  angels,  but  are  themselves  as  angels 

outward  expression,  of  all  the  Ro-  in  heaven.  32.  is  not  the 

man   Emperors  —  with   the   super-  God  of  the  dead,   but  of  the 

scription    running    round,    in    the  living]     God  is  God,  not  of  dead 

stately  language  of  Imperial  Rome,  but  of  living  persons  ;  — without  the 

'■  Tiberius   Ccesnr,   divi  Angusti  fiUus  article,  and  more  emphatically  de- 

Augustus^Imperator,' Tihev'msCsisav  noting  the  present  and  continuous 


388 


MATTHEW    XXII. 


all  thy  mind."  This  is  the  firsf  and  great  commandment.  38 
And  the  second  is  like  unto  it ;  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  39 
as  thyself."  On  these  two  commandments  hang  all  the  law  and  40 
the  prophets. 

While  the  Pharisees  were  gathered  together,  Jesus  asked  4i 
them,  saying,  What  think  ye  of  Christ  ?  whose  son  is  he  ?  42 
They  say  unto  him,  The  son  of  David.  He  saith  unto  them,  43 
How  then  doth  David  in  spirit  call  him  Lord  ?   saying,  "  The  44 


life  of  those  whose  God  he  is. 

40.  on  these  two  command- 
ments hang  all  the  law  and 
the  prophets]  "  Christ  appears 
to  us  to  point  by  the  metaphorical 
expression  to  the  symbolical  tassels 
worn  by  the  Pharisees  on  their  gai- 
ments,  and  enjoined  by  Moses,  as  a 
memorial  of  the  commandments  : 
two  as  the  two  tables,  in  each  many 
threads,  but  bound  together  in  one 
blue  string,  i.  e.  '  many  command- 
ments of  one  indivisible  heavenly 
law  of  love.'  "  Stier.  The. simpler 
interpretation,  "  On  these  two  prin- 
ciples depend  all  the  rest,"  seems 
to  us  the  more  natural  and  correct. 
43.  in  spirit]  "  Vates,  pro- 
pheta,"  i.  e.  Seer,  prophet.  Kuinoel. 
"  Speaking  by  inspiration."  Camp- 
bell. "UndeV  a  Divine  impulse." 
Norton.  "  hi  spiritual  contempla- 
tion." Palfrey.  The  expi-ession 
"in  spirit"  does  not  necessarily 
imply  a  special  Divine  influence, — 
"  sha'U  worship  the  Father  in  spirit 
and  in  truth"  (John  iv.  23),  "in 
the  spirit,  and  not  in  the  letter" 
(Rom.  ii.  29).  "  Walk  in  the  spirit, 
and  ve  shall  not  fulfil  the  lust  of 
the  flesh  "  (Gal.  v.  16).  But  when 
it  is  used  to  express  the  impelling 
cause,  it  does,  we  think,  imply  be- 
ing moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God, — 
divinely  moved  or  inspired,  —  or,  as 
Mr.  Norton  explains  it,  "  Tinder  a 
Divine  influence."  "  And  he  came 
in  the  spirit  into  the  temple."  (Luke 
ii.  27.)  "And  he  was  led  in  the 
spirit  into  the  wilderness."  (Luke 
iv.  1.)  "  As  it  is  now  revealed  imto 
his  holy  apos^-les  and  prophets  in 
the  spirit."  (Eph.  iii.  5.)  "I  was 
in  the  spirit  on  the  Lord's  day." 
(Rev.  i.  10.)  Unless  the  phrase  in 
spirit  is  here  used  to  express  a  state 


of  peculiar  spiritual  exaltation  or 
sensibility  to  spiritual  influences, 
the  spiritual  fjiculties  peculiarly 
open  to  spiritual  impressions,  or  pe- 
culiarly moved  by  the  spirit  of  God, 
it  is  difficult  to"^  assign  to  it  any 
meaning  adapted  to  the  place  which 
it  holds.  This,  we  think,  must  have 
been  the  meaning  uitended  by  the 
writers.  So  in  the  passage  before 
us,  "  David  in  spirit,"''  or,  as  Mark 
has  it  (xii.  36),  '■^  David  in  the  holy 
sjnrit,''  there  is  implied  a  state  of 
mind  more  or  less  produced  and 
guided  by  the  special  influences  of 
the  Divine  Spirit.  There  can  hard- 
ly be  a  question  that  Jesus  Avas 
and  meant  to  be,  so  understood  at 
the  time.  It  may  be  said  that  he 
was  only  accommodating  himself 
to  the  views  of  others  in  order  to 
confute  them.  But  Ave  cannot  think 
that  this  would  be  quite  in  accord- 
ance with  the  perfect  sincerity  and 
tnithfulness  of  his  character.  He 
plainly  assumes,  flrst.  That  David 
is  speaking  here  of  the  Messiah  ; 
and,  secondly.  That  he  does  this 
under  a  divine  impulse,  in  the  spirit. 
But  because  David  was  thus,  in 
the  spiritual  exaltation  of  his  fac- 
ilities, enabled  to  foretell  the  king- 
dom of  the  ^lessiah,  and  its  ultimate 
triumph,  it  does  not  follow  that  he 
had  a  perfectly  clear  and  adequate 
conception  of  the  Saviour's  charac- 
ter and  office.  Divine  illumination 
does  not  imply  perfect  infallibility. 
The  prophet  rnay  not  always  uii- 
derstand  entirely  the  vision  that 
comes  before  him.  Daniel  (xii.  8, 
9)  says,  "I  heard,  but  I  understood 
not,""  and  when  he  asked  for  an 
explanation,  the  reply  was,  "  the 
words  are  closed  up  and  sealed  till 
the  time  of  the  end."     We  should 


MATTHEW    XXII. 


389 


Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou  on  my  right  hand,  till  I 
45  make  thine  enemies  thy  footstool."      If  David  then  call  him 


always  bear  this  in  mind  in  our 
attempts  to  explain  the  prophetical 
"writings  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Visions  of  a  futm-e  and  holier  king- 
dom than  the  world  had  known,  — 
foregleams  of  one  gi-eater  than  any 
monarch  or  conqueror,  who  should 
put  down  all  his  enemies,  and  rule 
the  nations  in  righteousness,  were 
gi-anted  to  prophets  and  holy  men  of 
old  Avho  spake  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  spirit  of  Go'd.  But  they 
were  obliged  to  employ  such  terms 
as  were  used  among  men ;  and  the 
whole  prophetic  vision,  as  it  stood 
revealed  in  the  words  of  the  prophet, 
must  be  marked  by  the  imperfec- 
tions necessarily  inherent  in  our 
limited  human  conceptions,  habits 
of  thought,  and  forms  of  speech. 
As  a  single  illustration  of  our  mean- 
ing, we  subjoin  the  whole  of  Psalm 
ex.  as  it  stands  in  Dr.  Noyes's 
version  :  — 

1.  Jehbvah  said  to  my  lord, 

"  Sit  thou  at  my  right  hand, 

Until  I  make  th}-  foes  thy  footstool." 

2.  Jehovah  will  extend  the  sceptre  of  thy 

power  from  Zion ; 
Thou  Shalt  rule  in  the  midst  of  thine 


3.  Thy  people  shall  be  ready,  when  thou 

musterest  thy  forces,  in  holy  splen- 
dor [in  the  beauty  of  holiness]  ; 
Thy  youth  shall  come  forth  like  dew 
from  the  womb  of  the  morning. 

4.  Jehovah  hath  sworn,  and  he  will  not 

repent : 
"  Thou  art  a  priest  forever, 
After  the  order  of  Melchisedek  !  " 

5.  The  Lord  is  at  thy  right  hand, 

He  shall  crush  kings  in  the  day  of  his 
wrath. 

6.  He  shall  execute  justice  among  the 

nations  ; 

He  shall  fill  them  with  dead  bodies  ; 

He  shall  crush  the  heads  of  his  ene- 
mies over  many  lands. 
7-  He  shall  drink  of  the  brook  in  the 
way  ; 

Therefore  shall  he  lift  up  his  head. 

We  will  suppose  this  psalm  to  be, 
as  our  Saviour  himself  assumes  in 
speaking  of  it,  composed  by  David. 
Could  the  opening  words  be  applied 
by  him  to  any  one  of  his  succes- 
sors? The  question  of  Jesus  still 
33* 


comes  in  with  all  its  original  force: 
"  If  David  call  him  Lord,  how  is  he 
his  son  ?  Must  there  not  then  be  a 
different  and  higher  sense  in  which 
the  language  is  used  than  in  its  ap- 
plication to  a  king  of  Israel?  Be- 
sides, what  Jewish  monarch  was 
there  who  united  in  the  manner 
here  indicated,  4,  the  priestly  with 
the  kingly  character  and  office  ? 
There  is  no  suitable  correspondence 
between  the  words  and  the  subject. 
But  if,  on  the  other  hand,  David  in 
spirit  had  a  glimpse  of  the  higher 
and  hDlier  kingdom  of  the  Messiah 
with  its  attendant  conflicts  and  vic- 
tories and  glories,  are  not  the  images 
here  such  as  a  warlike  king  like 
David  might  fittingly  employ  to 
body  forth  the  essential  facts  of  the 
case  ?  —  1.  The  exalted  condition 
of  the  Messiah  whom  the  prophet 
king  looks  up  to  as  his  Lord ;  2. 
The  sceptre  of  his  power  going 
forth  from  Zion,  the  seat  of  the  Jew- 
ish religion,  gaining  its  ascendency 
even  in  the  midst  of  his  enemies  v 
3.  His  people  in  the  beauty  of  holi- 
ness, and  his  followers  coming  forth 
in  the  freshness  of  their  youthful 
zeal  like  dew  from  the  womb  of  the 
morning;  4.  His  joining  the  priestly 
to  the  kingly  office;  Jehovah,  5,  6, 
putting  down  and  destroying  his 
enemies  when  kings  and  rulers  rise 
against  him,  and  executing  justice 
among  the  nations,  while  he,  7,  like 
one  in  a  desert  land  suddenlv  re- 
freshed by  a  running  brook,  lifts  up 
his  head  in  joy  and  triumph.  Is" 
there  not  here  under  these  various 
images,  1  -  4,  a  picture  of  the  Mes- 
siah in  his  exaltation  and  holiness, 
while  the  warlike  images  that  fol- 
low show  how  amid  violent  oppo- 
sition and  bloody  conflicts,  where 
kings  and  people  are  overwhelmed 
and  destroyed,  his  kingdom  shall 
be  established,  and  he,  notwith- 
standing these  wearisome  wars, 
shall,  like  one  refreshed  by  a 
stream  in  the  sultry  day,  lift  up  his 
victorious  head.  The  cruelties  spo- 
ken of  in  the  psalm  are  objected 
to.    "  The  least,"  says  Dr.  Falfrey, 


)90 


MATTHEW    XXII. 


Lord,  how  is  he  his  son  ?     And  no  man  -was  able  to  answer  46 
him  a  wonl ;  neither  durst  any  man,  tirom  that  day  forth,  ask 
him  any  more  questions. 


'•  that  such  a  supematiinil  inspira- 
tion, had  David  po5*e>^d  it,  might 
have  been  expected  to  do,  woiikl  be 
to  keep  him  from  describing  the  fii- 
ture  >lessiah,  the  meek  and  peace- 
ful Jesus  of  Xazareth.  a5  a  furious 
soldier  who  should  •  strike  throuirh 
kings,'  and  pile  up  heaps  of  bkxxly 
and  helpless  corpses,  and  slay  till 
he  should  be  exhausted  -with  weari- 
ness and  thirst."  But  is  not  this  a 
caricature  ?  The  images  in  the 
psalm,  of  war  and  cruelty  and 
desolation,  do  they  not  truthfully 
describe  the  condition  of  things 
through  which  the  religion  of  Jesus, 
'•  extending  the  sceptre  of  its  power 
from  Zion,"  passed  in  its  victorious 
progress  ?  And  do  they  not  accord 
with  the  wars  and  rumors  of  wars, 
nation  rising  agtiinst  nation,  and 
kingilora  agiiiust  kingi^lom,  which 
Jesus  himself  has  spoken  of  as 
among  the  signs  of  his  coming  ? 
We  wish  to  state  the  matter  pre- 
cisely. Here  is  a  ps^ilm  which  the 
Jews"  received  as  written  bv  David, 
and  as  referring  to  the  "Messiah. 
Jesus  in  quoting  from  it,  speaks  of 
Da\id  as  saying  these  things  in 
spirit,  and  witlT  reference  to  the 
ilessiah.  The  presumption  from 
all  this  is  that  Jesus  believed  in 
David  as  the  author  of  the  psalm, 
and  that  the  psalm  was,  or  at  least 
contained,  a  prediction  of  the  Mes- 
siah and  his  kingdom.  The  psalm 
itself,  in  the  first  four  verses,  is 
altogether    in   harmony  with    this 


view  of  its  Messianic  character, 
and  can  hardly  be  explained  natu- 
rally and  intelligibly,  on  anv  other 
supposition.  Is  there  in  the  last 
three  verses  anvthing  inconsistent 
with  this  view?  We  leave  it  for 
the  careful  reader  to  judge  whether 
the  latter  clause  is  not  also  per- 
fectly in  accordance  with  the  dark 
and  destructive  conflicts  which 
marked  the  early  progress  of  Chris- 
tiimity,  and  wHether  its  language 
may  not  without  any  violence  be 
interpreted  as  a  highly  impassioned 
and  condensed  figurative  descrip- 
tion of  the  struggles  and  slaughters 
and  conquests  by"" which  God  m  his 
providence  was  preparing  for  the 
establishment  of  the  Messiah's  king- 
dom. 44.  till  I  make 
thine  enemies  thy  footstool] 
We  would  refer  to  the  striking  co- 
incidence between  Ps.  ex.  1,  and  1 
Cor.  XV.  25,  to  the  use  made  of  the 
same  verse  in  Acts  ii.  34  :  Heb.  i. 
13,  and  x.  13 :  "  The  eteniirk*  of  the 
session,"  s;iys  Bengel,  "  is  not  de- 
nied: but  it  is  denied  that  the  as- 
sault of  the  enemies  will  interfere 
with  it.  The  warlike  kingilom  will 
come  to  an  end :  the  peaceful  king- 
dom, however,  will  have  no  end. 
Com{>are  1  Cor.  xv.  25,  &c.  Even 
before  that  the  Son  was  subordinate 
to  the  Father,  but  did  not  then  ap- 
pear so,  on  account  of  the  glor\-  of 
his  kuigdom  :  even  after  that"  he 
will  reign,  but  as  the  Sou,  subordi- 
nate to  the  Father." 


MATTHEW  xxirr.  391 


CHAPTER     XXIII. 

Christ's  Dexu^tciation  of  the  Pharisees. 

According  to  Matthew,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was 
the  first  public  discourse  of  Jesus  to  the  Jews,  and  this 
the  last.  There  is,  in  some  respects,  a  remarkable  resem- 
blance or  contrast  between  the  two.  As  that  opened  with 
seven  beatitudes,  so  this  closes  with  seven  woes.  Verse  14 
is  omitted  by  Tischendorf.  The  beatitudes  ofter  themselves 
in  sounds  of  perpetual  gladness  and  welcome  to  those  who 
will  come ;  the  woes  stand  out  as  sad  and  awful  warnings 
to  those  who  will  not  hear.  It  is  remarkable  that  in 
enumerating  the  crimes  which  made  a  national  existence 
no  longer  possible  for  the  Jews,  Jesus  did  not  dwell  on  the 
vices  of  the  people,  but  on  the  spiritual  wickedness,  —  the 
vainglory,  hypocrisy,  and  religious  insensibility  of  their 
spiritual  teachers  and  guides. 

3-12.  As  teachers  of  the  law,  holding  the  place  and 
reading  the  precepts  of  Moses,  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees 
are  to  be  respected ;  but  beyond  this,  their  example  and 
their  teachings  are  to  be  shunned.  They,  4,  profess  much 
and  do  little,  and  what  they  do,  5-7,  is  in  order  to  be  seen 
of  men.  But  do  not  ye,  8-11,  seek  these  human  dis- 
tinctions,—  these  titles  of  honor,  Rabbi,  Teacher,  Father. 
By  Father  is  not  meant  the  relation  of  parent  to  child,  but 
some  official  title  of  respect  which  Jesus  would  not  have  his 
followers  assume  or  apply,  —  as,  e.  g.  the  term  Pope,  Papa, 
Father,  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  now  assumed  by  the 
head  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  The  expression, 
"  for  one  is  your  teacher,  and  all  ye  are  brethren,"  strikes 
directly  at  the  pretended  supremacy  of  any  one  over 
the  other  disciples. 


392  MATTHEW    XXIII. 

13-34.  Some  have  thought  the  translation  IVoe  unto  you 
too  severe,  and  have  substituted  for  it,  Alas  for  you.  But 
the  former  expression  comes  more  nearly  to  the  meaning 
of  the  original  in  its  union  of  severity  and  pity,  and  is  more 
in  accordance  with  the  whole  tone  of  our  Saviour's  dis- 
course. Woe  unto  you,  13,  because  ye  shut  up  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven,  i.  e.  will  not  yourselves  receive  my 
religion,  and  as  religious  teachers  and  guides  use  your 
authority  to  prevent  others  from  receiving  it.  Woe  unto 
you,  14,  because  under  the  pretence  of  religious  services 
and  duties,  ye  contrive  to  appropriate  the  possessions 
of  widows  and  devour  as  it  were  their  houses.  This  verse 
is  omitted  by  Tischendorf.  Woe  unto  you,  because  without 
the  vital  religious  faith  through  which  alone  a  true  convert 
can  be  gained,  ye  compass  sea  and  land  to  bring  one  man 
over  a  proselyte  to  your  hypocritical  and  wicked  purposes. 
"  A  disciple,*'  says  Alford,  "  of  hypocrisy  merely,  —  neither 
a  sincere  heathen  nor  a  sincere  Jew,  —  doubly  the  child 
of  hell,  —  condemned  by  the  religion  which  he  had  left,  — 
condemned  again  by  that  which  he  had  taken,"  —  not  a 
sincere  convert,  but  an  apostate  from  the  old  religion,  a  hyp- 
ocrite in  regard  to  the  new.  Mr.  Norton  supposes  that  this 
may  refer  to  Judas,  whom  the  Pharisees  had  won  over  to 
their  dark  and  murderous  purposes.  Woe  unto  you,  16  — 
31  (see  also  v.  33-36),  because  ye  evade  and  profane  the 
most  sacred  religious  obligations  by  your  unfounded  and 
bewildering  distinctions.  Woe  unto  you,  23,  24,  because 
while  punctiliously  scrupulous  about  the  slightest  observ- 
ances—  the  tithing  of  unimportant  herbs  —  ye  omit  the 
weightier  matters  of  the  law,  viz.  righteousness,  mercy, 
and  love.  Allusion  is  probably  made  here  to  Micah  vi.  8 : 
"  He  hath  showed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good ;  and  what 
doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love 
mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God  ? "  Woe  unto 
you,  25,  26,  because  ye  regard  only  the  outside  of  the  cup 
and  the  platter,  both  in  the  literal  and  figurative  sense  of 


MATTHEW  XXIII.  393 

the  expression,  while  within  they  are  full  of  rapine   and 
excess ;  yea,  woe  unto  you,  27,  because,  being  thus  mindful 
of  the  outside   alone,  ye  are   like   whited  sepulchres,   fair 
without,  but  within  full  of  dead  men's  bones  and  all  un- 
cleanness.  —  Finally,   woe    unto   you,   29-33,  because,    as 
the  last  consummate   act   of  hypocrisy  and  crime,  at  the 
very  time  that  ye  are  building  and  adorning  the  tombs  of 
the  prophets,  and  saying,  "  if  we  had  lived  in  the  days 
of  our  fathers,  we  would   not   have   been   partakers   with 
them  in  the  blood  of  the  prophets,"  ye  by  your  very  words, 
and  by  actions  which  speak  more  powerfully  than  words, 
testify  to   yourselves   that   ye   are   the   sons  of  them   who 
slew  the  prophets.     Go  on  then,  if  you  will.     Since  there 
is  no  hope  of  amendment  for  you,  and  no  room  for  the 
establishment  of  my  kingdom  except  on  the  ruins  of  yours, 
Fill  up  speedily  the  measure  of  your  fathers.       Complete 
the  work  of  cruelty  and  crime  which  they  began,  that,  in 
the  national  overthrow  and  destruction  which  must  ensue, 
the  time  of  redemption  to  my  followers  from  all  your  cruel- 
ties and  oppressions  may  come.     O  ye  serpents,  ye  genera- 
tion of  vipers,  [no  longer,  as  with  John  the  Baptist,  iii.  7, 
"Who  hath  warned  ye  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come? 
but]   how  can  ye  escape  the  damnation  [or  judgment]  of 
hell.^    Wherefore,   or,  for   this   reason,   34,   refers   to   this 
clause  as  well  as  to  what  goes  before.     It  is  as  if  Jesus 
had  said,  If  there  were  any  hope  of  your  amendment  and 
co-operation  with  me,  —  any  hope  that  you  would  cease  to 
stand  in  the  way  of  God's  kingdom,  and  to  persecute  and 
oppress    my  disciples,    I   might   even   yet   bear  with  you. 
But  since  there  is  no  such  hope,  and  no  way  in  which  my 
religion  can  be  established  on  earth  except  by  the  consum- 
mation, on  your  part,  of  crimes  which  must  soon  end  in 
tlie  overthrow  of  your  power  and  the  destruction  of  your 
city  and  nation,  therefore,  as  the  only  way  of  shortening 
those  evil  days,  and  hastening  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
man,   behold,   I   send   unto    you   prophets   and   wise  men 


394  MATTHEW    XXIII. 

and  scribes,  whom  ye  shall  persecute  and  scourge  and 
murder,  so  that  your  measure  of  iniquity  may  soon  be  full, 
and  on  you  may  come  every  kind  of  blood-guiltiness  that 
the  world  has  known,  —  all  the  righteous  blood  that  has 
been  shed  from  the  blood  of  righteous  Abel,  unto  the  blood 
of  the  last  righteous  man,  whom  ye  slew  within  the  very 
precincts  of  the  temple.  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  All  these 
things  shall  come  upon  this  generation. 

The  cumulative  Guilt  of  a  Nation. 

We  have  here  stated  by  Jesus,  in  its  terrible  results 
the  slow  but  constantly  progressive  power  of  sin  among 
a  people  who  give  themselves  up  to  what  is  evil.  The 
catalogue  becomes  constantly  darker  from  generation  to 
generation.  Children  grow  up  into  the  crimes  of  their 
parents,  and  add  to  them  yet  other  crimes  of  their  own. 
Partial  judgments  fall  upon  them  from  time  to  time,  and 
check  somewhat  the  progress  of  corruption.  Prophets 
and  holy  men  are  raised  up  and  sent  among  them  that 
all  who  will  may  yet  repent  and  be  saved.  But  these 
messengers  of  God's  mercy  only  aggravate  the  guilt  of  those 
who  will  not  hear.  So  they,  hardened  alike  by  the  judg- 
ments and  mercies  of  heaven,  add  to  the  murderous  spirit 
of  their  fathers  a  deeper  hypocrisy  of  their  own,  and  fill  up 
whatever  has  been  left  wanting  in  the  measure  of  crime 
by  those  who  went  before,  till  they  have  reached  such 
a  point  of  obduracy  and  wickedness,  that  national  dissolu- 
tion and  death  must  ensue,  and  in  that  crisis,  that  day  of 
national  retribution,  all  the  crimes  which  have  been  accu- 
mulating through  so  many  ages,  unfolding  new  depths  of 
iniquity  in  each  successive  generation,  as  they  are  now 
consummated  in  their  lives,  so  also  are  they  fulfilled  in  the 
judgments  which  fall  upon  them.  "  The  mills  of  the  gods 
grind  late,  but  they  grind  clean."  Mercy  not  less  than 
justice  requires  that  their  reign  of  iniquity  should  be  ended. 
When  a  people,  through  the  slowly  accumulating  results  of 


MATTHEW   XXIII.  395 

ages  of  infidelity  and  sin,  are  at  length  ripe  for  judgment, 
when  the  last  terrible  crisis,  so  long  preparing,  has  come, 
and  neither  the  warnings  nor  the  promises  of  God  will 
move  them  to  turn  from  their  iniquities  and  live,  then 
mercy  and  justice  alike  require  that  the  sorrowful  retribu- 
tions which  have  been  gathering  through  the  whole  period 
of  their  history,  from  their  earliest  to  their  latest  crime, 
shall  fall  in  ruin  on  their  sinful  and  devoted  heads.  The 
Jews  were  now  reaching  this  period.  They  had  had  their 
opportunities.  But  now  to  them  the  end  of  the  world,  the 
end  of  their  cBon  or  dispensation,  was  at  hand.  All  that 
can  be  done  has  been  done.  One  thing  only  waits, —  the 
cross  of  Christ.  But  except  with  the  few  who  will  hear, 
that  will  only  deepen  their  guilt,  and  hasten  the  day  of 
vengeance.  All  efforts  in  their  behalf  are  in  vain.  It 
only  remains  to  pronounce  their  sentence,  though  it  be 
with  tears  and  with  the  yearning  of  an  infinite  ten- 
derness towards  them.  "O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou 
that  killest  the  prophets  and  stonest  them  who  are  sent 
unto  thee,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children 
together,  even  as  a  bird  gathereth  her  young  under  her 
wings,  and  ye  would  not !  Behold,  your  house  is  left  unto 
you  desolate.  For  I  say  unto  you.  Ye  shall  not  see  me 
henceforth,  till  ye  shall  say,  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord."  These  were  the  words  of  Jesus 
as  he  went  out  of  the  temple  for  the  last  time.  And  when 
he  departed  its  glory  also  departed,  and  it  was  left  indeed 
naked  and  desolate  to  them.  Then  was  the  beginning  of 
that  desertion  which  Josephus  in  his  Wars  of  the  Jews, 
VI.  5.  speaks  of  as  among  the  omens  which  preceded  the 
destruction  of  the  temple.  "  Moreover,"  he  says,  "  at  that 
feast  which  we  call  Pentecost,  as  the  priests  were  going  by 
night  into  the  inner  court  of  the  temple,  as  their  custom 
was,  to  perform  tlieir  sacred  ministrations,  they  said,  that 
in  the  first  place  they  felt  a  quaking,  and  heard  a  great 
noise ;  and  after  that,  they  heard  a  sound  as  of  a  multitude 
saying,  Let  us  depart  hence." 


396 


MATTHEW   XXIII. 


NOTES. 

Then  spake  Jesus  to  the  multitude,  and  to  his  disciples, 
saying,   The   scribes   and   the    Pharisees  sit  in    Moses'   seat.   3 
All,  therefore,  whatsoever  they  bid  you  observe,  that  observe   3 
and  do  ;  but  do  ye  not  after  their  works  ;  for  they  say,  and  do 
not.     For  they  bind  heavy  burdens,  and  grievous  to  be  borne,   4 
and  lay  them  on  men's  shoulders ;  but  they  themselves  will  not 
move  them  with  one  of  their  fingers.     But  all  their  works  they   5 
do  for  to  be  seen  of  men.     They  make  broad  their  phylacteries, 
and   enlarge   the   borders   of   their  garments,    and   love   the   6 
uppermost  rooms  at  feasts,  and  the  chief  seats  in  the  syna- 
gogues, and  greetings  in  the  markets,  and  to  be  called  of  men,  7 
Rabbi,  Rabbi.     But  be  not  ye  called  Rabbi ;  for  one  is  your  8 


2.  sit  in  Moses'  seat]  The 
Sanhedrim,  which  Avas  composed 
mainly  of  the  scribes  and  Phari- 
sees, was  the  higliest  religions  au- 
thority recognized  among  the  Jews. 
3.  therefore]  This 
word  limits  the  command  which  it 
introduces.  Therefore,  inasmuch  as 
they  occupy  the  seat  of  Moses,  and 
so  far  as  they  occupy  it,  and  are 
the  expounders  of  his  law,  observe 
their  directions,  but  do  not  imitate 
them  in  their  conduct. 
for  they  say,  and  do  not] 
There  is  always  this  danger  with 
those  Avhose  business  it  is  to  ex- 
pound the  duties  of  moral  and  re- 
ligious obligation.  They  are  so 
taken  up  with  thinking  about  them, 
and  enforcing  them  on  others,  that 
they  are  in  danger  of  failing  to  re- 
ceive them  into  their  own  hearts, 
and  carry  them  out  in  their  lives. 
There  is  no  soul  so  impervious  to 
the  vital  and  vitalizing  powers  of 
divine  truth  as  one  encased  in  its 
own  religious  speculations  and  stud- 
ies. Its  intellectual  processes  on 
these  great  themes  absorb  into 
themselves  the  life  which  should 
enter  into  it  and  quicken  alike  its 
sensibilities,  its  affections,  and  its 
active  powers.  4.  For 

they  bind]      The  allusion  here  is 
to  beasts  of  bui'den,  which  when 


men  have  loaded  with  a  heavy 
weight,  they  apply  their  hand  to  it 
to  keep  it  steady,  and  prevent  it 
from  falling."  Kenrick.  "  In  what 
an  entirely  different  light  does  the 
Saviour  appear,  who  himself  sought 
to  bear  the  heaviest  burdens,  and  by 
his  love  to  make  evexy thing  easy  for 
his  people."     Stein.  5.  their 

phylacteries]  Strips  of  parch- 
ment with  certain  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture, viz.  Exod.  xiii.  11-17,  and  1 
-11;  Deut.  xi.  13-22;  vi.  4-10, 
written  on  them,  and  Avorn  on  the 
forehead  between  the  eyes,  on  the 
left  side  next  the  heart,  and  on  the 
left  arm.  and  enlarge  the 

borders  of  their  garmentsj  The 
fringes  were  commanded  to  be  Avorn 
for  a  memorial.     (Num.  xv.  38.) 

6.  the  uppermost  rooms] 
the  highest  place  for  reclining  at 
the  feasts.  the  chief  seats] 

The  uppermost  seats  in  the  Syna- 
gogue, i.  e.  those  Avhich  were  near- 
est the  Chapel,  where  the  sacred 
books  were  kept,  were  esteemed 
peculiarly  honorable."  Jahn. 
8.  Be  hot  ye  called  Rabbi] 
Eablji,  my  Master.  The  negative 
particle  is  sometimes  lased  in  He- 
bi-e\v  instead  of  the  comparative 
"  For  thou  desirest  not  sacrifice, 
else  would  I  give  it,  and  the  sacri- 
fices of  God  are  a  broken  spirit." 


MATTHEW    XXIII. 


397 


9  Master,  even  Christ,  and  all  ye  are  brethren.  And  call  no  man 
your  father  upon  the  earth ;  for  one  is  your  Father,  which  is  in 

10  heaven.     Neither  be  ye  called  masters ;  for  one  is  your  Mas- 

11  ter,  even  Christ      But  he  that  is  greatest  among  you  shall  be 

12  your  servant.  And  whosoever  shall  exalt  himself  shall  be 
abased ;    and  he  that  shall  humble  himself  shall  be  exalted. 

13 But  woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  for 

ye  shut  up  the  -kingdom  of  Heaven  against  men ;  for  ye  neither 
go  in  yourselves,  neither  suffer  ye  them  that  are  entering  to  go 

14  in.  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites !  for  ye 
devour  widows'  houses,  and  for  a  pretence  make  long  prayer ; 

15  therefore  ye  shall  receive  the  greater  damnation.  Woe  unto 
you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites  !  for  ye  compass  sea 
and  land  to  make  one  proselyte  ;  and  when  he  is  made,  ye 
make   him  twofold  more   the   child  of  hell  than   yourselves. 

16  Woe  unto  you,  ye  blind  guides,  which  say.  Whosoever  shall 
swear  by  the  temple,  it  is  nothing ;  but  whosoever  shall  swear 

17  by  the  gold  of  the  temple,  he  is  a  debtor.  Ye  fools,  and 
blind  !  for  whether  is  greater  ?   the  gold,  or  the  temple  that 


(Ps.  li.  16,  17.)  That  is,  outward 
sacrifice  is  less  required  than  a  bro- 
ken spirit.  So  it  may  be  here,  that 
Jesus  commands  his  disciples  not 
to  receive  or  bestow  these  titles  of 
respect,  for  they  are  notliing  when 
thus  received  and  accepted,  com- 
pared with  what  they  are  when  ap- 
plied to  Christ  their  only  master, 
and  to  God  wlio  alone  in  the  highest 
import  of  the  word  is  their  Father. 
The  meaning  of  the  passage  is  the 
same,  whether  we  adopt  this  or  the 
common  interpretation.  In  either 
case,  Jesus  forbids  liis  disciples  to 
seek  or  to  use  among  themselves 
those  titles  of  distinction  Avhich 
may  interfere  with  their  brotherly 
equality,  or  put  any  one  on  earth  as 
a  master  between  them  and  him. 

16-22.  Bishop  Jebb  (Thirty 
Years'  Correspondence,  Vol.  II.  pp. 
56,  57)  has  pointed  out  in  these 
passages  a  construction  wliich  cor- 
responds very  closely  to  the  paral- 
lelism of  Hebrew  poetry,  and  which 
may  interest  those  who  are  curious 
in  some  of  the  lighter  matters  per- 
taining to  the  form  of  our  Saviour's 
teachings.  The  characteristic  con- 
34 


struction  is  less  marked  in  English 
than  in  Greek,  but  may  be  repre- 
sented as  follows :  — 

"Wo*^  unto  you,  blind  leaders,  who  say, 
Whosoever  shall  swear  by  the  temple, 

it  is  nothing,  — 
But  he  who  shall  swear  by  the  gold  of 

the  temple,  is  bound  thereby  ; 
Ye  fools  and  blind  ones  I 
For  which  is  the  greater,  the  gold, 
Or    the    temple  that  sanctifieth    the 

gold? 

And  woe  unto  you,  blind  leaders,  who 

say. 
Whosoever  shall  swear  by  the  altar,  it 

is  nothing ; 
But  he  who  shall  swear  by  the  gift 

that  is  on  it,  is  bound  thereby  : 
Ye  fools  and  blind  ones  I 
For  which  is  the  greater,  the  gift, 
Or  the  altar  that  sanctifieth  the  gift? 

Whoso,  therefore,  shall  swear  by  the 

altar, 
Sweareth  by  it,  and    by    all    things 

thereon ; 
And  whoso  shall  swear  by  the  temple, 
Sweareth   by  that,  and  by  him  who 

dwelleth  therein ; 
And  he  who  shall  swear  by  heaven, 
Swears  by  the  throne  of  God,  aud  by 

him  that  sitteth  thereon. 


398  MATTHEW    XXIII. 

sanctifietli  the  gold  ?     And,  Whosoever  shall  swear  by  the  19 
altar,  it  is  nothing ;  but  whosoever  svveareth  by  the  gift  that  is 
upon  it,  he  is  guilty.    Ye  fools,  and  blind  !  for  whether  is  great-  19 
er  ?   the  gift,  or  the  altar  that  sanctifieth  the  gift  ?     Whoso  20 
therefore  shall  swear  by  the  altar  sweareth  by  it,  and  by  all 
things  thereon  ;  and  whoso  shall  swear  by  the  temple  sweareth  21 
by  it,  and  by  him  that  dwelleth  therein  ;  and  he  that  shall  swear  22 
by  heaven  sweareth  by  the  throne  of  God,  and  by  him  that  sit- 
teth  thereon.      Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypo-  23 
crites !    for   ye    pay   tithe   of   mint,   and   anise,   and   cumin ; 
and  have  omitted  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law,  judgment, 
mercy,  and  faith.     These  ought  ye  to  have  done,  and  not  to 
leave  the  other  undone.     Ye  blind  guides  !  which  strain  at  a  24 
gnat,  and  swallow  a  camel.     Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Phar-  25 
isees,  hypocrites  !    for  ye  make  clean  the  outside  of  the  cup 
and  of  the  platter,  but  within  they  are  full  of  extortion  and  ex- 
cess.    Thou  blind  Pharisee  !  cleanse  first  that  which  is  within  26 
the  cup  and  platter,  that  the  outside  of  them  may  be  clean  also. 
Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites !  for  ye  are  27 
like  unto  whited  sepulchres,  which  indeed  appear  beautiful 
outward,  but  are  within  full  of  dead  men's  bones,  and  of  all 
uncleanness.      Even  so   ye  also  outwardly  appear  righteous  28 
unto  men,  but  within  ye  are  full  of  hypocrisy  and  iniquity. 


23.  tithe  of  mint,  and  anise,  24.   which   strain    at   a  gnat, 

and  cumin]     These  were  iiniin-  and  swallow    a   camel]     The 

portaiit  herbs,  and  the  scribes  and  Jews  carefully  strained  their  wine, 

Pharisees  are  represented  as  hypo-  that    they    might    not    drink    any 

critically    magnifying    the    impor-  unclean    insect   in   it.     The    camel 

tance   of   paying '  their    tenths    on  Avas  also  an  unclean  animal.     The 

them,    that   they   might   cover  up  meaning  of  the  comparison  is  obvi- 

their    short-comings    in    weightier  ous.     The  translation  should  be  who 

matters.    Jesus  tells  them  that  they  strain  out  a  gnat,  &c. 
should  not  omit  the  least,  but  above         27.  Ye  are  like  unto  whited 

all  they  should  observe  the  weight-  sepulchres]     "  In  order  that  those 

ier  matters  of  the  huv.     "  The  tithe  who   were    forbidden   to    approach 

was  a  provision  made  by  the  law  of  unclean  places  might  not  be   pol- 

Moses  for  the  support  of  the  Levites,  luted,  the  Jews   were  accustomed 

the  stranger,  the  fatherless,  and  the  to     whitewash     the     sepulchres." 

widow,   Deut.    xxvi.  12 ;    and  was  Schleusner.     "  The  Jews  used  once 

therefore  intended  to  proceed  from  a  year  (on  the  15th  of  the  month 

the  produce  of   the   field,  and   not  Adar)  to  whitewash  the  spots  where 

from  garden  herbs.     The  Pharisees,  graves  were,  that  persons  might  not 

however,  were  so  scrupulously  exact  be  liable  to  uncleanness  by  passing 

in  observing  the  injunctions  of  the  over  them.  (See  Num  xix.  16.)    This 

law,    that    they    tithed    all     small  goes  to  the  root  of  the  mischief  at 

herbs."    Keuri'ck.  once :  your  heart  is  not  a  temple  of 


MATTHEW    XXIII. 


399 


29  Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites !  because  ye 
build  the  tombs  of  the  prophets,  and  garnish  the  sepulchres  of 

30  the  righteous,  and  say,  If  we  had  been  in  the  days  of  our 
fathers,  we  would  not  have  been  partakers  with  them  in  the 

31  blood  of  the  prophets.  Wherefore  ye  be  witnesses  unto 
yourselves  that  ye  are  the  children  of  them  which  killed  the 

32  prophets.      Fill   ye   up   then   the   measure   of   your    fathers. 

33  Ye  serpents,  ye  generation  of  vipers !  how  can  ye  escape  the 

34  damnation  of  hell  ?  Wherefore,  behold,  I  send  unto  you 
prophets,  and  wise  men,  and  scribes ;  and  some  of  them  ye 
shall  kill  and  crucify,  and  some  of  them  shall  ye  scourge  in 

35  your  synagogues,  and  persecute  them  from  city  to  city ;  that 
upon  you  may  come  all  the  righteous  blood  shed  upon  the 
earth,  from  the  blood  of  righteous  Abel  unto  the  blood  of 
Zacharias,  son  of  Barachias,  whom  ye  slew  between  the  tem- 

36  pie  and  the  altar.  Verily  1  say  unto  you,  all  these  things  shall 
come  upon  this  generation. 

37  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou  that  killest  the  prophets,  and 
stonest  them  which  are  sent  unto  thee,  how  often  would  I  have 
gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her 

38  chickens  under  her  wings !  and  ye  would  not.     Behold,  your 

39  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate.     For  I  say  unto  you.  Ye  shall 


the  living  God,  but  a  grave  of  pesti- 
lent corruption."     Alford. 

35.  Zacharias,  son  of  Bara- 
chias] It  is  not  known  with  cer- 
tainty who  is  meant  here.  Tliere  is 
a  tradition  mentioned  by  Origen 
that  Zacharias,  the  father  of  John 
the  Baptist,  was  slain  by  them  in  the 
temple.  It  may  have  been  some 
other  person  of  that  name  wliom 
the  Jews  had  recently  murdered,  or 
it  may  be  that  Jesus  alhided  to 
Zacharias  the  son  of  Jehoiada, 
who  was  killed  there  (2  Chron. 
xxiv.  21),  and  of  whose  blood  the 
Jews  had  a  saying,  that  it  was  nev- 
er washed  away  till  the  temple  was 
biu-nt  at  the  captivity. 
Sou  of  Barachiah]  "  does  not 
occur  in  Luke  xi.  51,  and  ijerhaps 
was  not  uttered  by  the  Lord  nimself, 
but  may  have  been  inserted  by  mis- 
take, as  Zecharias  the  prophet  was 
son  of  Barachiah,  see  Zech.  i.  1." 
Alford.  between  the  tem- 


ple and  the  altar]  between  the 
vaus,  temple  pi'oper  and  the  altar, 
which  was  in  the  court,  iepov,  just 
in  front  of  the  temple.  The  altar 
built  by  Solomon,  was,  according  to 
Josephus,  about  30  feet  square  and 
15  feet  high.  According  to  the 
same  writer  the  altar  in  the  enclos- 
ure of  Herod's  temple  was  about 
75  feet  (50  cubits)  square,  and  22j| 
feet  high.  39.  Ye  shall 

not  see  me  henceforth,  till] 
Many  commentators  find  here  a 
prediction  of  the  future  conversion 
and  restoration  of  the  Jews.  "  Un- 
til that  day  the  subject  of  all  proph- 
ecy," says  Alford,  "  when  your  re- 
pentant people  shall  turn  with  true 
and  royal  hosaiuias  and  blessings  to 
greet  Him  whom  they  have  pierced." 
"  Christ  takes  leave  of  them,"  says 
Stier,  "  not  merely  with  the  feeling 
that  he  can  return  to  the  teinple 
only  as   Messiah  or  never  (accord- 


400 


MATTHEW   XXIII. 


not  see  me  henceforth,  till  ye  shall  say,  Blessed  is  he  that  com- 
eth  in  the  name  of  the  Lord ! 


ing  to  Hase),  but  with  the  clear- 
discerning  prophecy  that  at  one 
time  the  people  of  God  shall  honor 
him.  The  still  future  restoration  of 
Israel  according  to  the  flesh  is  an- 
nounced throughout  all  the  Old 
Testament,  from  Deut.  iv.  30,  on  to 

Zechariah ; he  who  has  not 

read  this  is  not  yet  able  rightly  to 
read  the  prophets."  —  "I  depart 
from  you:  after  this  ye  shall  not 
see  me  in  this  temple  till  ye  recog- 
nize me  as  the  Messiah;  i.  e.  ye 
shall  never  see  me  in  this  temple 
again."  Kuinoel.  But  is  there 
not  another  interpretation  which  is 
more  in  harmony  with  our  Saviour's 
habits  of  speech?  We  have  seen 
how  often  and  almost  insensibly 
he  rises  from  the  literal  to  the  fig- 
urative and  spiritual  meaning  of 
words.  "  He  who  saveth  his  life," 
1.  e.  his  bodily  life,  "  shall  lose  it," 
i.  e.  his  spiritual  life.    In  this  very 


chapter,  25,  26  is  an  instance  of  the 
same  transition  from  the  literal  to 
the  spiritual,  from  the  cups  and 
platters  which  the  Pharisees  used, 
to  themselves  in  their  outside  con- 
duct and  inward  life.  So  here, 
after  announcing  the  destruction 
which  is  soon  to  fall  upon  the  Jews 
as  a  nation,  may  it  not  be  that  he 
turns  from  the  outward  ruin  of  the 
city  and  nation  as  a  whole  to  the  in- 
ward spiritual  manifestation  of  him- 
self which  he  will  make  to  those 
among  them  who  shall  heartily  re- 
ceive and  acknowledge  him  as  the 
Messiah  ?  Your  house  is  left  unto 
you  desolate.  I\Iy  visible  ministry 
among  you  is  ended.  Hereafter, 
none  of  you  shall  see  me  till,  con- 
verted, and  born  into  a  higher  life, 
ye  joyfully  behold  and  recognize  me 
as  the  Son  of  God.  This  is  sub- 
stantially in  accordance  with  Mr. 
Norton's  view. 


MATTHEW  XXIV.  401 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

Our  Saviour's  Gift  of  Prophecy. 

The  question  of  prophecy  is  intimately  connected  with  the 
Scriptures,  and  any  attempt  to  explain  the  Gospels  must  he 
incomplete  unless  it  should  treat  this  subject  fully  and 
fairly. 

1.  A  prophecy  may  be  merely  a  message  or  a  simple 
communication  in  relation  to  some  future  event,  as,  e.  g. 
(1  Kings  xxi.  17  - 19)  :  "  And  the  word  of  the  Lord  came 
to  Elijah  the  Tishbite,  saying,  Arise,  go  down  to  meet  Ahab, 

king  of  Israel, saying.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Hast  thou 

killed,  and  also  taken  possession?  And  thou  shalt  speak 
unto  him,  saying.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  In  the  place  where 
dogs  licked  the  blood  of  Naboth  shall  dogs  lick  thy  blood, 
even  thine."  The  interpretation  of  dreams  (Gen.  xl.  8  -  23  ; 
Dan.  ii.  31  —45),  the  message  to  Cornelius  (Acts  x.  1  -8), 
and  the  message  to  Peter  in  the  same  chapter  are  instances 
of  this. 

2.  An  impression  in  regard  to  the  future  may  be  made 
upon  the  mind,  so  as  to  act  upon  it  with  a  mysterious  power. 
Some  insects  are  endowed  with  a  prophetic  instinct,  by  which 
they  provide  for  the  preservation  and  support  of  their  off- 
spring which  are  to  be  born  after  their  death.  We  find  this 
sort  of  blind  but  prophetic  instinct  having  a  marked  influence 
in  forming  the  minds  and  shaping  the  destiny  of  extraordi- 
nary men,  such  as  Julius  Caesar,  Lord  Bacon,  Oliver  Crom- 
well, and  Napoleon.  As  in  the  heart  of  the  plant  and  insect, 
so  in  the  heart  of  man,  it  would  seem  as  if  there  had  been 
sometimes  implanted  from  his  earliest  years  a  propelling 
power  urging  him  on,  he  hardly  knows  how  or  why,  to  the 

;u  *  z 


402  MATTHKW   XXIV. 

work  for  which  Providence  has  designed  him.  Do  we  not 
see  something  of  this  kind  working  in  the  heart  of  a  nation  ? 
In  Rome,  e.  g.,  did  not  this  j)rophetic  conviction  of  the  great 
national  destiny  which  lay  before  them  nerve  the  people 
with  a  sterner  fortitude  under  defeat,  and  prompt  them  to 
more  daring  enterprises,  and  thus  help  them  to  accomplish 
the  designs  of  Providence  ?  Or  is  this  an  idea  attributed  to 
them  by  later  writers  in  describing  the  deeds  of  their  ances- 
tors, after  the  imperial  grandeur  of  the  nation  had  become  an 
historical  fact  ?  The  history  of  the  Jewish  nation  furnishes  a 
remarkable  instance  of  the  same  kind.  From  the  time  of 
Abraham  onward  through  all  their  individual  and  national 
reverses,  they  were  led  on  by  an  indefinite  but  certain  assur- 
ance of  future  greatness  and  glory.  This  impression,  repeat- 
edly renewed,  was  continued  from  Abraham  to  Moses,  from 
Moses  to  David,  from  David  on  his  throne,  through  a  suc- 
cession of  prophets,  to  Daniel  an  exile  and  captive.  What- 
ever may  be  thought  of  specific  prophecies,  this  expectation 
of  a  destiny  beyond  what  had  fallen  to  the  lot  of  any  other 
people  has  followed  them  from  the  earliest  times  recorded 
in  their  history  down  to  the  present  hour.  However  indis- 
tinct their  expectations  may  have  been,  however  mistaken 
the  interpretation  which  they  have  put  upon  it,  and  however 
misguided  their  conduct  under  it,  that  such  an  expectation 
has  existed  among  them  for  thousands  of  years  is  a  fact 
which  can  hardly  be  called  in  question  by  any  intelligent 
and  careful  student  of  history.  As  we  examine  their  records, 
we  find  notices  of  great  men  rising  up  from  age  to  age,  who, 
professing  to  be  moved  by  a  divine  inspiration,  foreshadowed 
sometimes  more  and  sometimes  less  distinctly  the  coming  of 
a  most  extraordinary  person,  whose  influence  should  be  felt 
throughout  the  whole  world.  Abraham  is  told  (Gen.  xviii. 
18)  that  "  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  shall  be  blessed  in 
him."  Moses  (Deut.  xviii.  18)  says,  "  The  Lord  thy  God 
will  raise  up  unto  thee  a  Prophet  from  the  midst  of  thee,  of 
thy  brethren,  like  unto  me;    unto  him  ye  shall  hearken." 


MATTHEW   XXIV.  403 

Sometimes  he  is  described  as  a  conqueror  (Ps.  ex.),  some- 
times as  the  Prince  of  peace  (Isa.  ix.  6),  under  whose  mild 
and  powerful  reign  (Isa.  ii.  4)  "  nation  shall  not  lift  up  sword 
against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war  any  more."  He 
shall  be  endowed  with  a  divine  wisdom,  authority,  and 
strength  (Isa.  xi.  2-  10)  to  uphold  the  poor  and  meek.  "  By 
him  the  eyes  of  the  blind  (Isa.  xxxv.  5,  6)  shall  be  opened, 
and  the  tongue  of  the  dumb  shall  sing,"  and  yet  he  is  to  be 
(Isa.  liii.)  a  man  of  sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  grief,  pour- 
ing out  his  soul  unto  death.  These  and  other  visions  of  fu- 
ture greatness  and  power,  many  of  them  conflicting  with  the 
prevailing  notions  of  the  times  when  they  appeared,  were 
given  from  generation  to  generation,  especially  when  times 
of  great  national  corruption  were  about  to  be  followed  by 
their  just  retribution.  Through  the  darkness  of  the  impend-, 
ing  evils  announced  as  the  judgments  of  God  there  comes 
always  this  light  of  promise  from  beyond.  This  is  a  most 
remarkable  feature  running  through  all  the  prophetic  writ- 
ings. However  severe  the  calamities  which  ai'e  announced, 
whatever  desolation  of  fire  and  sword  may  fall  upon  the 
land,  though  the  whole  remnant  of  the  people  should  be  car- 
ried away  into  captivity,  there  is  still  a  great  and  glorious 
future.  We  think  no  one  can  read  even  the  minor  prophets 
without  recognizing  this  extraordinary  feature  in  their  pre- 
dictions. Whether  we  call  them  seers  or  poets,  whether  we 
regard  them  as  moral  teachers  or  inspired  prophets,  this  fea- 
ture still  remains  in  their  writings,  and  it  marked  the  con- 
duct of  their  greatest  men  in  the  most  hopeless  periods  of 
their  history.  The  writers,  even  though  they  were  divinely 
inspired  prophets,  may  not  themselves  have  comprehended 
in  full  the  character  of  the  deliverer  or  of  the  era  whose 
coming  they  foretold.  John  the  Baptist,  whom  Jesus  de- 
clared (xi.  11)  not  inferior  to  the  greatest  of  them  all,  evi- 
dently did  not  fully  understand  the  Saviour,  or  the  nature  of 
his  kingdom.  Daniel,  after  one  of  his  sublime  prophecies,  says 
(Dan.  xii.  8,  9),  "  And  I  heard,  but  I  understood  not  j  then 


404  MATTHEW  XXIV. 

said  I,  0  my  Lord,  what  shall  be  the  end  of  these  things* 
And  he  said,  Go  thy  way,  Daniel ;  for  the  words  are  closed 
up  and  sealed  till  the  time  of  the  end."  This  sort  of  im- 
pression in  regard  to  future  events,  made  upon  the  mind  and 
bodied  forth  in  words  or  images  through  a  divine  influence, 
is  a  mode  of  prophecy  which  we  can  easily  conceive  of  as 
possible. 

3.  There  may  be  another  and  still  higher  form  of  proph- 
ecy. Future  events  are  folded  up  in  the  present  as  in  a 
seed.  The  oak  is  already  in  the  acorn,  the  bird  in  the  egg, 
the  man  in  the  child.  From  the  seed  the  naturalist  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  foretells  what  will  be  the  progress  of  the  plant, 
through  each  successive  period  of  its  growth.  So  to  some 
extent  in  human  affairs,  from  our  knowledge  of  men  and  the 
•influences  which  act  upon  them,  i.  e.  from  our  knowledge  of 
causes  and  the  habit  of  following  those  causes  on  in  their 
workings,  till  we  begin  to  understand  the  laws  of  succession 
or  of  progress,  we  may  learn  to  anticipate  events,  and  to  catch 
some  glimpses  of  the  future  in  the  present.  In  proportion 
to  the  completeness  of  our  insight  into  causes,  and  the  laws 
of  their  progress  in  any  particular  sphere  of  activity,  will  be 
our  ability  to  foresee  and  foretell  future  events, 

"  Till  old  experience  do  attain 
To  something  like  prophetic  strain." 

If  we  suppose  a  mind  divinely  quickened  in  this  respect  so 
as  to  look  at  a  glance  through  causes  to  their  immediate 
or  remote  results,  and  determine  with  certainty  the  course 
of  events  in  the  complicated  web  of  human  affairs,  we 
should  have  an  instance  of  this  third  and  highest  form  of 
prophecy.  It  is  the  way  in  which  all  future  events  lie 
open  to  the  Omniscient  Mind. 

Now  this  is  the  form  under  which  our  Saviour's  prophetic 
endowments  manifested  themselves  in  perfect  harmony 
with  all  the  other  manifestations  of  his  greatness.  We 
have  seen  above  (pp.  128-135)  that  his  miracles  were 
"his  works,"  as  natural  and  easy  to  him  as  our  ordinary 


MATTHEW   XXIV.  405 

actions  are  to  us.  In  his  views  of  death  (see  above,  pp. 
174,  175)  we  have  seen  him,  in  the  plane  of  his  ordinary- 
thought,  recognizing  the  existence  of  a  higher  world,  which 
lay  as  much  open  to  his  spiritual  insight  as  the  material 
world  does  to  our  bodily  senses.  So  from  time  to  time  he 
foretells  future  events,  not  as  something  specially  communi- 
cated to  him,  but  as  lying  within  the  plane  of  his  ordinary 
thought.  As,  from  his  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  nature, 
to  use  his  own  illustrations,  he  foresaw  that  a  cloud  from 
the  west  would  bring  rain,  that  a  south  wind  would  be 
followed  by  heat,  and  that  when  the  fig-tree  put  forth  her 
leaves  the  summer  would  be  nigh,  so  also  from  "  the  signs 
of  the  times  "  he  foresaw  future  events.  From  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  laws  of  the  moral  universe,  and  his  insight  into 
the  condition  of  society  and  the  souls  of  men,  he  saw  in  the 
world  of  human  passions  and  interests,  and  the  influences 
which  encompassed  them,  unerring  indications  of  events 
which  must  ensue.  In  the  souls  of  Peter  and  Judas  he 
foresaw  the  denial  and  repentance  of  one,  and  the  treachery 
of  the  other.  In  the  character  of  priests  and  rulers,  as 
contrasted  with  his  own  pure  doctrine  and  life,  he  foresaw 
the  antagonism  which  could  result  only  in  his  death.  So 
at  this  time  he  saw  the  utter  and  irremediable  corruption 
of  the  nation, — justice  poisoned  at  the  fountain,  wickedness 
sustained  and  honored  under  the  forms  of  law,  falsehood, 
murder,  impiety  and  all  uncleanness  disguised  and  rever- 
enced under  the  forms  of  religion,  the  people  rapidly 
ripening  for  judgment  in  the  accumulated  guilt  of  ages. 
The  crimes  enumerated  in  the  twenty-third  chapter  are 
the  premises  from  which  the  judgments  afterwards  an- 
nounced follow  as  necessary  and  logical  conclusions. 

Those  judgments  consist  in  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
and  the  retributions  which  lie  beyond  the  sphere  of  the 
senses.  The  rapidity  with  which  Jesus  passes  from  one 
to  the  other  class  of  judgments  is  what  makes  the  diffi- 
culty  in   the   interpretation   of    this    prophetic    discourse. 


40G  MATTHEW   XXIV. 

As  was  natural  to  one  who  looked  with  equal  ease  and 
clearness  through  the  physical  and  the  spiritual  world, 
his  thought  and  his  language  go  easily  from  one  to  the 
other,  and  often  without  any  word  to  mark  the  point  of 
transition.  The  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  which  is  so  dis- 
tinctly foretold  as  the  judgment  of  God  on  a  wicked 
people,  is  to  him  an  emblem,  or  rather  the  foreground,  of 
the  judgments  which  reach  on  from  their  early  indications 
and  partial  fulfilment  here  to  their  perfect  consummation 
hereafter.  It  is  difficult  for  us  who  are  shut  up  so  closely 
within  the  senses  to  understand  the  true  perspective  in 
the  views  of  one  who  with  equal  ease  comprises  both  worMs 
within  the  sphere  of  his  vision.  The  present  glances  on  to 
the  future,  and  the  future  throws  back  its  light  or  its  shadows 
into  the  present.  The  two  worlds  are  united  and  blended 
by  almost  insensible  gradations  into  one  comprehensive 
plan.  The  sharp  distinctions  by  which  they  are  separated 
to  us  are  hardly  recognized  by  him.  This  mortal  life, 
with  its  germ  of  immortality  unfolding  itself  here,  is  only 
the  beginning  of  the  eternal  life  which  reaches  through  the 
everlasting  ages.  The  horizon  of  his  thought  lies  always 
in  that  higher  life  and  world  ;  and  unless  we  constantly 
recognize  this  fact,  we  can  hardly  understand  aright  any 
word  that  he  uttered.  Least  of  all  can  we  understand  the 
prophetic  imagery  by  which  he  lays  before  us  the  future 
judgments  of  God,  which  display  them  partially  here  and 
perfectly  hereafter.  From  the  foreground  of  visible  cir- 
cumstances and  events  he  is  constantly  following  his  prin- 
ciples on  to  the  vast  and  mysterious  background  beyond. 
There  is  no  dark  line  of  separation  between  the  two,  and 
we  may  not  always  be  able  to  determine  when  the  scenery 
is  shifted  from  one  to  the  other. 


MATTHEW    XXIV.    1-35.  407 


1-35.  The  Coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  Judgment 
TO  THE  Jews. 

Bearing  these  remarks  in  mind,  we  shall  endeavor  to 
explain  the  extraordinary  predictions  before  us.  In  the 
previous  chapter  we  are  told  that  Jesus  pointed  out  the 
causes  of  the  national  ruin,  and  foretold  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem.  On  leaving  the  temple,  the  disciples,  as  if 
incredulous,  and  supposing  that  they  must  have  misunder- 
stood what  he  had  said,  came  to  call  his  attention  to  the 
buildings  within  the  sacred  enclosure,  and  the  immense 
stones  of  which  they  were  composed.  In  this  Avay  they 
probably  meant  to  indicate  to  him  that  it  was  impossible 
that  the  destruction  of  the  city  and  temple  which  he  had 
foretold  should  take  place.  Titus  himself,  after  he  had  taken 
the  city,  when  examining  the  strength  of  its  fortifications, 
is  represented  by  Josephus  (Wars  of  the  Jews,  YI.  9.  1) 
as  expressing  a  similar  thought.  "  We  have  certainly,"  he 
said,  "had  God  for  our  assistant  in  this  war;  and  it  was 
no  other  than  God  who  ejected  the  Jews  out  of  these 
fortifications.  For  what  could  the  hands  of  men,  or  any 
machines,  do  towards  overthrowing  these  towers  ?  "  Jesus 
knew  the  thought  of  his  disciples.  He  also  knew  that 
walls  and  towers  and  the  most  desperate  courage  furnish 
no  adequate  security  for  a  hopelessly  corrupt  and  wicked 
people.  He  therefore  replied  to  his  disciples  only  by  re- 
peating more  explicitly  what  he  had  already  said.  "  See  ye 
not  all  these  things ;  verily  I  say  unto  you.  There  shall  not 
be  left  here  a  stone  upon  a  stone  which  shall  not  be  thrown 
down."  In  less  than  forty  years  from  the  time  when  these 
words  were  spoken,  i.  e.  in  September,  A.  D.  70,  Jerusalem 
was  taken,  and  the  temple  was  utterly  destroyed,  in  spite 
of  the  earnest  efforts  of  Titus,  the  Roman  general,  to  save  it. 
Dr.  Robinson  (Researches,  &c.,  I.  p.  436)  says  of  Matt, 
xxiv.  1,  2:  "This  language  was  spoken  of  the  buildings 
of  the  temple,  the  splendid  fane  itself,  and  its  magnificent 


408  MATTHEW   XXIV.    1-35. 

porticos ;  and  in  this  sense  the  prophecy  has  been  terribly 
fulfilled,  even  to  the  utmost  letter.  Or,  if  we  give  to  the 
words  a  wider  sense,  and  include  the  outer  works  of  the 
temple,  and  even  the  whole  city,  still  the  spirit  of  prophecy 
has  received  its  full  and  fearful  accomplishment;  for  the 
few  substructions  which  remain  serve  only  to  show  where 
once  the  temple  and  the  city  stood." 

After  Jesus  had  uttered  this  prediction,  he  went  out  to  the 
Mount  of  Olives.  While  he  was  sitting  there,  four  of  his 
disciples,  Peter,  James,  John,  and  Andrew  (Mark  xiii. 
3),  came  to  him  privately,  and  asked  when  these  things 
should  be.  "And  what  shall  be  the  sign  of  thy  coming 
and  of  the  end  of  the  world  ?  "  Tliese  last  two  events,  how- 
ever imperfectly  understood  by  the  disciples,  were  grouped 
together,  and  evidently  regarded  by  them  as  belonging  to 
the  same  grand  manifestation  of  the  Messiah's  kingdom. 
From  4  to  35  is  the  reply  to  their  question.  The  principal 
subject  is  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  signs  which 
should  precede  and  accompany  it,  interspersed  with  such 
cautions  and  warnings  as  might  be  useful  to  his  followers. 
First,  he  warns  them,  5,  against  the  false  Christs,  whose 
pretensions  and  influence  in  leading  men  astray  would  be  a 
natural  consequence  of  the  feverish  and  mistaken  expecta- 
tions of  the  Messiah  on  the  part  of  the  Jews.  Then,  6,  7, 
shall  be  wars  and  rumors  of  wars,  nation  rising  against  na- 
tion, and  kingdom  against  kingdom,  famines,  pestilences,  and 
earthquakes.  Yet  all  these,  8,  are  only  the  beginning  of 
sorrows,  —  the  beginning  of  the  death-agony  in  which  the 
old  order  of  things  should  perish,  and  of  the  birth-throes  by 
which  the  world  should  be  born  into  a  higher  life.  Then 
shall  succeed,  9,  persecutions  and  martyrdoms ;  many,  10, 
shall  be  offended,  and  they  shall  betray  and  hate  one 
another.  False  prophets,  11,  who  usually  abound  amid  the 
superstitious  fears  which  mark  the  great  epochs  of  national 
corruption,  shall  rise  and  lead  many  astray,  and,  12,  because 
of  iniquity  many  will  be  discouraged,  and  their  love  shall 


MATTHEW    XXIV.    1-35.  409 

grow  cold.  But,  he  says,  13,  rising  in  thought  from  these 
earthly  calamities  to  the  higher  life  into  which  the  faithful 
shall  enter,  "  He  that  shall  endure  unto  the  end,  the  same 
shall  be  saved."  (See  Rev.  ii.  10.)  The  Gospel,  14,  must 
first  be  preached  in  all  the  world,  i.  e.  through  all  the  known 
world,  or  the  Roman  empire. 

Here  were  the  signs  which  should  precede  the  great  event, 
and  bring  on  the  end.  How  far  were  they  fulfilled  ?  Any 
one  who  will  read  from  the  latter  part  of  the  second  to  the 
fifth  Book  of  the  Jewish  Wars,  by  Josephus,  may  see  how 
exactly,  in  its  general  features,  the  condition  of  the  Jews, 
and  of  the  Roman  empire,  as  it  appeared  to  the  Jews  dur- 
ing the  few  years  previous  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
corresponded  to  the  picture  here  given.  The  Jews  were 
engaged  in  wars  against  one  another,  and  in  fatal  outbreaks 
against  the  Romans.  "War  in  the  immediate  neighbor- 
hood," says  Stier,  "  ever  growing  alarms  in  the  distance,  terri- 
fying rumors  of  war,  commotions  and  tumults  of  the  people 
against  each  other,  this  is  in  reality,  on  the  small  scale,  the 
picture  of  the  time  as  described  by  Josephus,  which,  with 
every  year,  became  more  exactly  applicable.  The  wars 
were  certainly,  at  that 'time,  more  of  the  nature  of  insurrec- 
tions, tumults  here  and  there  (Luke  xxi.  9),  manifold  com- 
motions and  massacres,  for  example,  between  the  Syrian  and 
Jewish  inhabitants  in  the  cities  (nation  against  nation),  such 
as  are  to  be  read  of  in  Josephus,  Jewish  Wars,  11.  17,  10, 
18,  1—8:  according  to  his  expression,  'every  city  was  divid- 
ed into  two  opposing  hosts.'  "  Confidence  between  man  and 
man  was  lost.  Governments  were  overthrown.  The  ties 
by  which  society  is  kept  together  were  dissolved,  and  the 
wretched  superstitions  and  fanatical  pretensions  which  mark 
the  absence  of  a  living  faith  abounded  and  prevailed. 

As  to  the  literal  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy,  point  by  point, 
in  its  minute  specifications,  history  furnishes  no  sufficient 
materials  for  the  decision.  Christian  writers,  by  whom  alone 
any  account  could  be  given  of  the  false  Christs,  5,  have  left 

35 


410  MATTHEW    XXIV.    1-35. 

no  records  of  the  events  belonging  to  that  period,  beyond  what 
we  gather  from  the  later  writings  of  St.  Paul  (2  Tim.  iii. 
1-13)  and  St.  John.  Commentators  adduce  from  different 
historians  of  that  period  accounts  of  famines,  pestilences,  and 
earthquakes,  enough  to  give  a  coloring  of  plausibility  to  the 
doctrine  of  a  literal  fulfilment  of  ver.  7  ;  but  we  have  not  the 
historical  details  which  are  needed  in  order  to  put  ourselves 
into  the  position  of  those  who  lived  at  that  time,  and  to  deter- 
mine how  they  were  affected  by  these  events.  For  this  rea- 
son, in  accordance  with  the  view  which  we  have  taken  of 
our  Saviour's  gift  of  prophecy,  and  also  in  accordance  with 
the  poetical  and  prophetic  use  of  language,  we  incline  to  re- 
gard the  latter  part  of  ver.  7  as  carrying  out  in  a  figuiative 
form  the  idea  begun  in  the  first  clause  of  the  sentence  :  "  na- 
tion shall  rise  against  nation,  and  kingdom  against  kingdom ; 
and  there  shall  be  famines  [Tischendorf  omits  "  pestilences  "] 
and  earthquakes,"  i.  e.  great  privations,  sufferings,  and  com- 
motions in  divers  places.  As  to  the  persecutions,  9,  Peter, 
and  Paul,  and  James  the  brother  of  John,  and  probably 
many  others,  were  put  to  death  before  the  destruction  of  Je- 
rusalem. The  manner  in  which  some  of  the  early  Christians 
were  led  to  betray  and  hate  one  another  may  be  inferred 
from  Tacitus  (Ann.  XV.  44),  where,  in  giving  an  account  of 
the  destruction  of  the  Christians  at  Rome  by  Nero  A.  D.  64, 
he  says,  that  "  some  of  them  were  taken  who  confessed,  and 
through  them  as  informers  a  great  multitude  were  seized," 
and  exposed  to  cruel  tortures  and  death.  Eusebius,  refer- 
ring to  Vespasian  as  emperor,  says  (  H.  E.  III.  8),  "  At  that 
very  time  the  sound  of  the  sacred  Apostles  had  gone  out  to 
all  the  earth,  and  their  words  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
world,"  the  word  used  by  him  for  world  being  the  same  that 
is  used  in  the  passage  before  us,  ver.  14.  St.  Paul  (Col.  i. 
23)  speaks  of  the  Gospel,  which  then,  about  A.  D.  63,  "  was 
preached  to  every  creature  which  is  under  heaven." 

The  preliminary  signs  are  now  finished.     "  Then  shall  the 
end  come."     The  last  and  fatal  series  of  events  is  at  hand. 


MATTHEW   XXIV.    1-35.  411 

When,  therefore,  15,  ye  see  the  abomination  of  desolation 
spoken  of  by  Daniel  the  prophet  stand  in  a  (not  the)  holy 
place  ('^  standing  where  it  ought  not,"  Mark  xiii.  14),  let  them 
who  are  in  Judiea  flee  to,  or,  as  Alford  translates  it,  over,  along, 
across  the  mountains.  Whoso  readeth,  let  him  understand,  is 
a  word  of  warning  put  in  by  the  Evangelist,  as  it  also  is  by 
Mark,  to  direct  the  attention  of  those  who  might  be  living  at 
the  time  of  its  fulfilment  to  the  sign  here  given.  It  is  im- 
possible now  to  determine  precisely  what  the  sign  was.  The 
passage  referred  to  may  be  found  in  Dan.  ix.  27,  or  xii.  11. 
Josephus  says  (Ant.  X.  11.  7),  "  Daniel  wrote  concerning 
the  Roman  government,  and  that  our  country  should  be 
made  desolate  by  them."  But  what  was  this  "  abomination 
of  desolation,"  or  "  desolating,  abomination  "  ?  Whatever  it 
may  have  been,  as  used  by  Jesus,  it  undoubtedly  was  meant 
to  apply  to  some  event  which  the  Christians  would  under- 
stand as  connected  with  the  terrible  calamities  that  should 
immediately  precede  the  destmction  of  Jerusalem.  Luke  in 
the  parallel  passage  says  (xxi.  20),  '"But  when  ye  shall 
see  Jerusalem  compassed  by  armfes."  This  may  have  been 
the  explanatory  clause  inserted  by  Jesus  immediately  after 
the  words  recorded  by  Matthew  and  Mark,  so  that  the  whole 
passage  would  read  as  follows :  "  When,  therefore,  ye  shall 
see  the  desolating  abomination  spoken  of  by  the  prophet 
Daniel  standing,  Avhere  it  ought  not,  in  a  holy  place,  —  when 
ye  shall  see  Jerusalem  compassed  by  armies,  then  know  that 
its  desolation  draweth  near.  Let  them  who  are  in  Judaea 
flee  over  the  mountains."  This  appears  to  us,  upon  the 
whole,  to  be  the  most  probable  reading  of  the  passage.  If 
so,  we  are  to  see  its  fulfilment  in  the  Roman  armies  with 
their  eagles,  which,  as  objects  of  idolatrous  worship  on  the 
part  of  the  legions,  were  an  abomination  to  the  Jews  ;  and 
certainly  in  the  miseries  and  slaughter  which  came  with 
them  they  were  a  desolating  abomination.  AYhenever,  there- 
fore, the  Christians  should  see  Jerusalem  thus  invested  by 
armies,  they  were  to  seek  for  refuge  among  or  beyond  the 


412  MATTHEW   XXIV.    1-35. 

mountains.  This  event  took  place  when  the  Romans  under 
Cestius  Gallus  encamped  around  Jerusalem,  A.  D.  66,  or 
about  four  years  before  the  final  siege  of  the  city  by  Titus, 
A.  D.  70.  Josephus,  in  his  Wars  of  the  Jews  (II.  19.  6), 
says  that  when  Cestius  made  his  attack  on  Jerusalem,  a 
horrible  fear  seized  upon  the  seditious,  and  many  of  them 
ran  out  of  the  city  as  if  it  were  to  be  taken  immediately,  and 
that  after  Cestius  had  left  the  city  (II.  20.  1),  "  many  of  the 
eminent  Jews  swam  away  from  the  city,  as  from  a  ship  when 
it  was  going  to  sink."  The  Christians  must  at  that  time 
have  been  numerous  in  Jerusalem.  May  not  the  precipitate 
flight  urged  by  our  Saviour  when  the  sign  should  be  given 
be  that  which  is  mentioned  in  these  passages  by  Josephus  ? 
Eusebius  (H.  E.  III.  5)  says:  "  The  people  of  the  church 
in  Jerusalem  being  commanded  by  a  divine  revelation,  which 
had  been  given  to  their  leaders  before  the  war,  to  leave  the 
city,  and  to  dwell  in  a  city  of  Peraea,  which  they  call  Pella, 
those  who  believed  in  Christ,  removing  from  Jerusalem, 
dwelt  there,  while  holy  men  utterly  deserted  the  royal  me- 
tropolis of  the  Jews,  and  the  whole  country  of  Judaea,  and 
thus  the  judgment  of  God  followed  those  who  had  acted  un- 
justly towards  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  and  caused  that  race 
of  ungodly  ones  utterly  to  disappear  from  among  men." 
This  account,  which  harmonizes  with  what  Josephus  has 
said  of  the  flight  from  Jerusalem,  shows  that  the  warning 
given  by  Jesus  was  not  in  vain.  Eusebius,  however,  does 
not.  mention  what  the  warning  was.  As  the  sign  was  given 
for  the  Christians,  it  would  be  likely  to  be  understood  only 
by  them,  and  as  they  have  handed  down  no  particular  ac- 
count of  the  events  connected  with  the  siege  of  Jerusalem, 
we  must  be  content  to  remain  in  ignorance  on  this  point. 
The  fact  that  the  sign,  whatever  it  may  have  been,  was  un- 
derstood by  those  for  whom  it  was  intended,  and  that  they 
were  saved  by  it,  is  the  only  fact  that  is  clearly  established 
here  by  the  tradition  which  Eusebius  has  transmitted  to  us. 
The  passage  in  the  three  Evangelists  may  be  harmonized  as 


MATTHEW   XXIV.    1-35.  413 

follows :  "  When  ye  shall  see  Jerusalem  compassed  with 
armies,  and  the  abomination  of  desolation  spoken  of  by  Dan- 
iel the  prophet  standing,  where  it  ought  not,  in  a  holy  place, 
then,"  &c.  This  rendering  would  seem  to  refer  to  some  sign 
in  or  near  Jerusalem,  and  immediately  connected  with  the 
Koman  armies ;  but,  notwithstanding  what  has  been  said  on 
the  matter  by  Hug  (see  Livermore)  and  Alford,  we  are 
wholly  unable  to  determine  what  specific  event  is  pointed 
out.  This  harmony  of  the  different  expressions  used  by  the 
Evangelist  would  accord  perfectly  with  the  passages  which 
,  we  have  quoted  above  from  Josephus  and  Eusebius. 

When  the  sign,  whatever  it  might  be,  should  appear,  then 
the  Christians  in  Judaea  were  to  flee,  16-20,  with  the  ut- 
most haste.  But  why  this  haste,  if  the  sign  were  given  four 
years  previous  to  the  final  and  fatal  siege  of  Jerusalem  ?  In 
our  ignorance  of  the  precise  position  which  they  held  and  the 
dangers  which  threatened  them,  it  is  impossible  to  give  a 
specific  answer  to  this  question.  The  four  years  which  fol- 
lowed were  years  of  dismal  and  overwhelming  calamities 
among  the  Jews.  Their  miseries  were  caused  even  more  by 
the  cruelty  of  opposing  factions,  and  the  wickedness  and 
tyranny  of  their  own  leaders,  than  by  the  sword  of  the  Ro- 
mans. By  separating  themselves  immediately  and  utterly 
from  the  Jews  at  this  early  period,  the  Christians  were  freed 
from  the  wretchedness  among  their  countrymen,  which  ex- 
cited the  compassion  even  of  their  enemies.  Unless  they  had 
taken  this  early  opportunity  to  escape,  while  the  Jews  were 
wholly  intent  on  driving  away  the  Roman  army,  they  might 
have  turned  the  eyes  of  hostile  factions  upon  themselves  as 
a  common  enemy,  and,  thus  being  cut  off  from  the  possi- 
bility of  escape,  they  might  have  been  involved  as  innocent 
victims  in  the  slaughter  which  the  Jews  were  inflicting  on 
one  another  with  such  merciless  and  indiscriminate  ven- 
geance. In  the  winter,  20,  or  rather  stormy  weather,  fleeing 
as  they  must  with  their  wives  and  little  ones,  their  sufferings 
would  have  been  greatly  aggravated ;  and  if  they  should  flee 
35  * 


414  MATTHEW    XXIV.    1  -  35. 

upon  the  Sabbath,  though  they  might  not  feel  bound  by  the 
strictness  of  the  Jewish  observance,  they  would  excite  the 
suspicion  and  bring  down  upon  themselves  the  hostihty  of 
the  Jews. 

For  then,  21,  during  the  four  years  ending  with  the  siege 
of  Jerusalem,  shall  be  great  tribulations,  "  such  as  was  not 
since  the  beginning  of  the  world,  to  this  time,  no,  nor  ever 
shall  be."  We  have  not  room  to  copy  from  Josephus  the 
details  which  go  to  prove  the  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy. 
There  were  sieges,  murders,  famines,  in  Galilee,  not  less  than 
in  Judosa,  hundreds  of  thousands  slain,  mutual  and  general 
hatred  and  distrust,  with  all  the  miseries  attendant  on  this 
condition  of  things,  before  the  final  siege  of  Jerusalem ;  and 
then,  according  to  the  historian's  estimates,  more  than  two 
millions  and  a  half  of  people  who  had  come  up  to  the  feast 
of  the  Passover  were  crowded  together' within  the  walls  of 
the  doomed  and  devoted  city.  There  were  no  cruelties  and 
no  extremities  of  suffering  to  which  they  were  not  subjected. 
"  No  other  city,"  says  Josephus  (Jewish  Wars,  V.  10.  5), 
"  ever  suffered  such  miseries,  nor  did  any  age,  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  world,  ever  breed  a  generation  more  fruitful 
in  wickedness  than  this  was."  Again,  he  says,  in  his 
Preface  to  the  Jewish  Wars,  that  "  if  the  miseries  of  all 
mankind  from  the  creation  were  compared  with  those  which 
the  Jews  then  suffered,  they  would  appear  inferior." 

And  except  those  days  should  be  shortened,  22,  no  flesh 
would  be  saved,  i.  e.  the  whole  race  or  nation  would  be 
utterly  cut  off;  but  on  account  of  the  elect  or  chosen  ones, 
i.  e.  on  account  of  their  influence  and  prayers,  those  days 
shall  be  shortened.  "And  they,"  Luke  (xxi.  24)  adds  in 
this  place,  "  shall  fall  by  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and  shall 
be  led  away  captive  into  all  nations,  and  Jerusalem  will 
be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles  until  the  times  of  the 
Gentiles  be  fulfilled."  Eleven  hundred  thousand  Jews 
were  slain  in  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  thousands  were  de- 
stroyed by  the  sword  or  by  wild  beasts  for  the  entertainment 


MATTHEW    XXIV.    1-35.  415 

of  the  Romans  at  their  national  festivals,  and  of  the  ninety- 
seven  thousand  taken  captive  in  the  war,  those  above 
seventeen  years  of  age  were  sent  to  the  works  in  Egypt  or 
distributed  through  the  Roman  provinces,  and  those  under 
seventeen  were  sold  as  slaves.  At  Ci^sarea,  Titus  mur- 
dered twenty-five  hundred  Jews  in  honor  of  his  brother's 
birthday.  "  Some  he  caused  to  kill  each  other :  some  were 
thrown  to  the  wild  beasts,  and  others  burnt  alive." 

If  they,  23,  24,  "  shall  say  unto  you,  Lo,  here  is  Christ, 
or  there ;  believe  it  not.  For  there  shall  arise  false  Christs, 
and  false  prophets,"  &c.  St.  Paul,  in  what  is  probably  the 
last  Epistle  that  he  ever  wrote  (2  Tim.  iii.  1,  13),  speaks  of 
"  the  perilous  times  "  that  shall  come,  and  of  the  "  evil  men 
and  seducers,"  who  "  shall  wax  worse  and  worse,  deceiving, 
and  being  deceived."  This  was  probably  written  A.  D.  68, 
or  about  two  years  before  the  fatal  siege  of  Jerusalem. 
St.  John,  in  his  first  Epistle  (ii.  18),  says,  "Little  children, 
it  is  the  last  hour;  and  as  ye  have  heard  that  antichrist 
shall  come,  even  now  are  there  many  antichrists."  Again 
(iv.  1)  he  says,  "  But  try  the  spirits  whether  they  are  of 
God;  because  many  false  prophets  are  gone  out  into  the 
world."  This  Epistle  was  written  either  just  before  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem,  or  afterwards.  In  either  case  its  words 
go  with  those  of  St.  Paul  to  indicate  the  state  of  things 
which  our  Saviour  had  foretold  as  connected  with  the  over- 
throw of  the  Jewish  polity,  when  "  the  end,"  or,  as  St.  John 
calls  it,  the  "  last  hour,"  should  come.  Josephus  also,  in  his 
Jewish  Wars  (VI.  5),  says :  "There  was  then  a  great  num- 
ber of  false  prophets  suborned  by  the  tyrants  to  impose 
upon  the  people.  .....  Now  a  man  that  is  in  adversity 

does  easily  comply  with  such  promises Thus  were 

the  miserable  people  persuaded  by  these  deceivers,  and 
such  as  belied  God  himself"  Jesus,  26,  warns  his  follow- 
ers not  to  be  led  astray  by  any  such  pretensions.  "  For," 
27,  "as  the  lightning  cometh  out  of  the  east  and  shineth 
even  unto  the  west ;  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 


416  MATTHEW   XXIV.    1-35. 

man  be."  That  is,  he  comes  not  with  a  limited,  bodily 
presence,  in  the  wilderness  or  the  secret  chambers,  but  in 
the  power  of  his  religion  overspreading  the  whole  land,  like 
the  lightning,  which,  confined  to  no  one  spot,  fills  the  whole 
sky.  With  the  downfall  of  the  Jews,  the  new  religion 
will  rise  as  the  fulfilment  of  the  old,  and  in  its  advancement 
Christ  will  manifest  his  presence  to  the  world,  as  he  did  in 
the  judgments  which  fell  at  that  time  upon  the  Jews.  "  For," 
28,  "wheresoever  the  carcass  is,  there  will  the  eagles," 
more  properly  the  vultures,  "  be  gathered  together."  Where 
moral  death  and  corruption  are,  there  the  judgments  of  God, 
like  vultures,  shall  come  to  clear  away  the  pollutions  of 
the  land,  —  a  retribution  for  the  past,  a  preparation  for 
the  future. 

Immediately  after,  29,  or  rather  in  connection  with,  the 
tribulation  of  those  days,  shall  the  sun  be  darkened,  and 
the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and  the  stars  shall  fall 
from  heaven,  and  the  powers  of  the  heavens  shall  be 
shaken.  Josephus  speaks  of  "a  star  resembling  a  sword, 
which  stood  over  the  city;  and  a  comet  that  continued 
a  whole  year."  But  the  language  is  rather  to  be  taken 
figuratively.  "  That  is,"  says  Lightfoot,  "  the  Jewish  heaven 
shall  perish,  and  the  sun  and  moon  of  its  glory  and  hap- 
piness shall  be  darkened  and  brought  to  nothing.  The 
sun  is  the  religion  of  the  church ;  the  moon  is  the  govern- 
ment of  the  state ;  and  the  stars  are  the  judges  and  doctors 
of  both."  We  doubt  whether  the  language  was  intended 
for  so  specific  an  application.  We  speak  of  a  dark  and 
dreadful  day,  or  a  dark  and  troubled  night,  to  describe 
a  period  of  great  public  or  private  misery.  Oriental  writers 
carry  their  figures  of  speech  more  into  details  than  is 
allowed  by  the  usages  of  language  among  us,  and  give 
the  particulars  which  go  to  fill  out  the  idea  of  gloom  and 
sorrow.  It  is  not  merely  a  dark  day,  but  "the  sun  is 
darkened ; "  —  not  merely  a  dark  and  dismal  night  of  grief 
and  pain,  but  its  darkness,  the  moon  refusing  to  give  her 


MATTHEW   XXIV.    1-35.  417 

light,  should  be  rendered  more  frightful  by  the  portentous 
glare  of  falling  stars,  and  in  the  universal  consternation 
and  distress,  men's  hearts  failing  them  for  fear,  the  very 
powers  of  the  heavens  should  be  shaken.  Every  source 
of  light  or  hope  to  which  men  had  been  accustomed  to 
look  up  should  be  withdrawn,  amid  troubles  and  terrific 
commotions  in  what  had  seemed  to  them  most  elevated 
and  stable  among  the  powers  by  which  the  order  and 
government  of  the  world  had  been  sustained. 

The  same  powerfully  figurative  language  is  continued. 
"And  then  shall  appear  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man 
in  heaven,"  SO*;  not  the  sign  shall  appear  in  heaven,  but, 
"  Then  shall  appear  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man  that  he 
is  in  heaven."  Then,  when  the  rites  of  their  own  religion 
shall  no  longer  be  observed,  when  (Josephus,  Jewish  Wars, 
VI.  2.  1)  the  daily  sacrifice  (Dan.  xii.  11)  shall  be  taken 
away,  and  the  city  overthrown  with  such  sufferings  and 
slaughters  as  never  had  been  known  before,  —  when  such 
unspeakable  calamities  have  fallen  upon  them,  then  shall 
all  the  tribes  of  the  land  smite  their  breasts,  then  shall 
appear  the  sign  which  I  have  now  made  known  to  you 
of  the  Son  of  man  in  heaven,  and  they  who  refused  to 
recognize  him  before  shall  in  these  events  see  him  coming 
in  power  and  great  glory  to  establish  his  kingdom  on  the 
earth.  "  The  Jews,"  says  Kuinoel,  "  will  recognize  the  ma- 
jesty and  power  of  the  Messiah  as  their  Judge,  when,  as 
a  punishment  for  their  perversity  and  madness,  he  shall 
mournfully  exhibit  them  in  the  overthrow  of  their  temple 
and  city.  Tiie  Hebrew  prophets  use  the  same  image  which 
occurs  here.  When  they  would  describe  God  as  declaring 
his  majesty,  they  speak  of  him  as  about  to  come  sitting 
upon  the  clouds,  whether  it  be  to  bring  assistance  or  to 
pass  judgment  (Deut.  xxxiii.  26 ;  Isa.  xix.  1)." 

"And,"  31,  "he  shall  send  his  angels,"  &c.  "When 
Jerusalem  shall  be  reduced  to  ashes,  and  that  wicked 
nation   cut   off  and  rejected,  then  shall  the   Son  of  man 

AA 


418  MATTHEW   XXIV.     36-51. 

send  his  ministers  with  the  trumpet  of  the  Gospel,  and 
they  shall  gather  together  his  elect  of  the  several  nations, 
from  the  four  corners  of  heaven."  Lightfoot.  He  shall 
send  forth  his  angels,  the  messengers  of  salvation,  and  as 
with  the  sound  of  a  trumpet,  which  was  used  to  call  re- 
ligious assemblies  together,  he  shall  gather  his  chosen 
ones,  i.  e.  those  who  hear  and  obey  the  call,  into  his  Church 
throughout  the  whole  earth.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
religion  of  Jesus  prevailed  wonderfully  after  its  most  in- 
fluential and  violent  opponents  and  persecutors  had  been 
cut  off  in  the  wars  which  ended  with  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem. "It  was  after  this  period,"  as  Adam  Clarke  has 
said,  "  that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  began,  and  his  reign  was 
established  in  almost  every  part  of  the  earth."  That  there 
might  be  no  mistake  as  to  the  time  included  in  this  proph- 
ecy, and  as  to  what  was  there  meant  by  his  coming  and 
the  end  of  the  world,  —  cBon  or  dispensation,  —  he  distinctly 
declares,  34,  that  the  generation  then  before  him  should 
not  pass  away  till  all  these  things  were  fulfilled. 

36-51.  The  Comixg  of  the  Son  of  LIan  in  Judgment 
TO  All. 

At  the  thirty-sixth  verse  is  the  point  of  transition  from 
God's  judgment,  as  shown  in  the  destruction  of  a  wicked 
city  and  nation,  to  his  judgment  in  its  wider  application 
to  the  whole  family  of  man.  All  that  has  been  predicted 
thus  far  applies  primarily  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
and  would  be  accomplished  before  that  generation  should 
pass  away.  In  the  foreground  of  the  prophetic  picture 
lie  the  events  which  should  precede,  and  the  circumstances 
of  dread  and  horror  which  should  accompany,  that  great 
national  catastrophe.  These  events  are  distinctly  portrayed 
and  their  limits  fixed.  But  beyond  them,  in  a  background 
reaching  onward  into  eternity,  is  another  and  kindred  class 
of  events,  which  are  also  denoted  by  the   coming  of  the 


MATTHEW   XXIV.    36-51.  419 

Son  of  man,  and  of  which  the  precise  limiU  are  not  to  be 
distinguished  or  defined.  The  time  when  the  holy  city 
should  be  overthrown  had  been  fixed,  and  the  signs  of 
its  approach  pointed  out.  But  of  that  day  onA  hour,  when 
this  more  extended  series  of  events  included  in  the  general 
judgment  of  our  race  should  be  completed,  no  man  could 
know,  not  the  angels  in  heaven,  nor  the  Son,  but  the 
Father  only  (Mark  xiii.  32).  Only  He  whose  omniscient 
mind  takes  in  all  causes,  and  sees  in  them  all  future 
results  as  already  present,  can  determine  that. 

The  idea  which  fills  out  the  whole  picture  or  vsuccession 
of  pictures,  and  harmonizes  all  their  parts,  is  the  idea  of 
a  divine  retribution.  This  shows  itself  in  the  foreground ; 
then,  37-39,  it  goes  back  to  the  times  of  Noah  and  of 
Lot,  and  from  the  past  goes  on  again  to  the  future^  dwell- 
ing at  first  on  single  examples,  and  finally  gathering  up 
all  separate  incidents  and  souls  and  ages  into  one  over- 
powering scene  of  divine  majesty  and  justice. 

At  first  we  seem  to  be  lingering  still  around  Jerusalem 
in  those  days  of  impending  ruin,  as  if,  after  its  destruction 
had  been  foretold  and  language  pointing  on  to  a  wider 
range  of  judgments  had  been  used,  he  at  first,  in  his  refer- 
ence to  the  flood  and  to  Sodom  (Luke  xvii-  28),  employed 
images  equally  applicable  to  both  classes  of  events.  From 
this  point,  however,  there  is  nothing  which  can  be  construed 
as  applying,  like  what  has  gone  before,  distinctly  and 
exclusively  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  The  coming 
of  the  Son  of  man  carries  us  into  a  wider  iield,  until  at 
length  we  see  the  whole  human  family  standing  before 
him  in  judgment. 

A  great  deal  is  said  about  types.  May  it  not  be  that 
all  the  language  relating  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
was  meant  to  be  a  type  of  the  general  judgment?  Is  there 
not  this  double  meaning  running  through  it  ?  In  the  sense 
in  which  the  expressions  type  and  double  meaning  are 
commonly  used  by  theologians,  we  answer,  No. 


420  MATTUEW    XXIV.    36-51. 

Nothing  has  added  so  much  to  the  perplexity  and  confu- 
sion of  ideas  in  the  study  of  this  discourse,  as  the  notion  of  a 
double  meaning  running  through  it.  But,  in  another  sense, 
it  is  typical,  as  every  fact  in  nature  is,  of  something  beyond 
itself  A  falling  globule  of  water,  as  an  expression  of  the  law 
of  gravitation,  is  typical  of  the  form  and  motion  of  the  stars, 
and  thus  a  type  of  the  whole  frame  and  structure  of  the  mate- 
rial universe.  Almost  every  incident  or  fact  mentioned  by 
our  Saviour  is  so  put  by  him,  that  it  stands  forth  as  the  ex- 
pression of  a  general  law,  and  the  type  of  whatever  may  be 
brought  about  in  accordance  with  that  law.  The  clothing 
of  the  liUes,  and  the  feeding  of  the  ravens,  as  an  expression 
of  the  paternal  benignity  and  providence  of  God,  is  made  a 
type  of  the  still  greater  kindness  which  he  always  exercises 
towards  us.  The  corn  of  wheat  (John  xii.  24),  which,  ex- 
cept it  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  abideth  alone,  but  if  it 
die  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit,  as  an  expression  of  the 
great  law  of  self-sacrifice  in  order  to  the  attainment  of  the 
highest  results,  is  typical  of  every  fact  included  under  that 
law,  and  especially  of  the  death  of  Christ  and  the  unmeas- 
ured benefits  resulting  from  it.  So  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem, as  an  expression  of  the  Divine  justice,  or  of  the  judg- 
ments of  God,  is  typical  of  every  fact  included  under  that 
law,  and  especially  of  the  righteous  retribution  which  awaits 
every  soul,  when  at  the  close  of  its  probation  here  it  is 
called  to  judgment.  The  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  in 
the  destruction  which  fell  on  a  city  and  people  hopelessly 
corrupt,  as  an  expression  of  a  great  law,  is  typical  of 
Christ's  advent  to  judgment,  with  regard  to  every  soul  that 
appears  before  him.  The  difficulty  usually  is  in  detecting 
the  deep  and  hidden  law  which  serves  as  a  bond  of  union 
between  one  class  of  facts  and  another.  As,  in  natural  sci- 
ence, superficial  resemblances  are  disregarded,  and,  by  a 
law  of  association  which  it  is  difficult  for  the  uninitiated  to 
recognize,  the  strawberry,  the  mountain-ash,  the  black- 
berry, and  the  apple  are  placed  side  by  side  in  the  same 


MATTHEW   XXIV.    36  -  51.  421 

family,  so  in  our  Saviour's  words  facts  are  sometimes 
grouped  together  which  have  little  or  no  superficial  resem- 
blance, though  they  are  vitally  connected  as  representa- 
tives of  the  same  law.  In  this  way  language  is  employed 
in  describing  one  class  of  facts,  which  applies  with  equal 
force  to  other  and  kindred,  though  apparently  dissimilar, 
classes  of  facts.  Almost  all  the  language  on  which  we  have 
been  commenting  in  this  chapter,  and  which  describes  with 
such  terrific  power  the  events  connected  with  the  overthrow 
of  the  Jewish  ritual  and  nation,  designates  with  great  force 
the  general  law  of  retribution  in  its  application  to  our  race  ; 
and  with  most  readers  this  last  is  the  only  lesson  which  it 
teaches.  On  the  other  hand,  when  the  subject  is  really 
changed,  as  it  is  in  verse  36,  from  one  to  another  kindred 
class  of  facts,  those  two  classes  of  facts  are  in  the  mind  and 
the  language  of  Jesus  bound  together  so  closely,  by  the  same 
uniting  law,  that  only  a  slight  and  indefinite  notice  is  given 
of  the  transition,  and  it  is  only  by  the  closest  attention  that 
we  can  discover  precisely  where  the  change  has  taken 
place. 

Jesus  has  just  spoken,  36,  of  the  uncertainty  of  "that  day 
arid  hour,"  and  would  make  this  uncertainty  a  reason  for 
watchfulness  to  all.  As,  in  the  time  of  Noah,  the  flood  came 
unexpectedly  upon  a  world  absorbed  in  other  cares,  so  shall 
the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be.  No  man  can  tell  when  his 
"day"  shall  come.  "  Then  two  men  shall  be  in  the  field;  one 
is  taken,  one  is  left.  Two  women  grinding  at  the  mill,  turn- 
ing with  their  hands  the  same  stone ;  one  is  taken,  one  is  left. 
Watch,  therefore,  for  ye  know  not  what  day  your  Lord  doth 
come."  How  could  this  language  apply  to  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem?  Jesus  has  already,  15, 1 6,  pointed  out  the  sign  by 
which  his  followers  are  to  be  saved  from  that  catastrophe. 
In  the  34th  verse  he  has  limited  the  time  within  which  that 
series  of  events  is  to  take  place.  But  the  same  idea  of  a  di- 
vine retribution,  which  is  there  characterized  as  the  coming 
of  the  Son  of  man,  is  here  carried  out  in  the  divine  retribu- 
36 


422  MATTHEW     XXIV. 

tion  which  awaits  every  man  at  the  close  of  this  mortal  life, 
and  which  is  to  him  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  in  judg- 
ment, when,  as  St.  Paul  describes  it,  "  we  must  all  appear 
before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ."  We  are  not  all  called 
at  once.  Even  with  those  most  intimately  connected,  "  one 
is  taken,  one  is  left."  No  man  knoweth  when  the  call  shall 
be  made  to  him.  How  perfectly  and  with  what  a  powerful 
warning  does  this  language  hold  up  before  us  the  uncer- 
tainty of  life,  and  the  certainty  of  judgment !  No  philo- 
sophical precision  of  speech  could  address  itself  to  the  heart 
with  such  truth  and  power.  The  same  idea  is  dwelt  upon 
and  enforced  with  still  greater  distinctness  in  the  ensuing  par- 
ables. The  parable  which  closes  this  chapter,  and  which 
applies  to  "  that "  unknown  "  hour  "  which  comes  to  all,  is 
too  direct  and  explicit  in  its  appeal  to  each  soul  to  allow  of 
any  labored  comment.  It  applies  to  our  conduct  here  as  a 
preparation  for  that  solemn  moment  when  the  Son  of  man 
shall  come  to  each  one  of  us  at  the  close  of  our  mortal  la- 
bors, and  the  interests  of  this  world  shall  be  lost  in  the  retri- 
butions of  the  world  to  come.  He  comes,  first,  to  every  soul 
in  the  offers  of  mercy  and  salvation  which  he  makes.  He 
comes  to  all,  when  they  receive  him,  and  strive  to  obey 
him,  with  loving  and  believing  hearts.  His  final  coming  to 
each  one  is  when  he  shall  call  us  to  account  for  the  use  that 
we  have  made  of  his  gifts. 

Conclusion. 

We  have  endeavored  to  explain  this  remarkable  prediction 
of  our  Saviour.  We  have  shown  how  the  part  of  it  which 
applied  to  "  that  generation  "  was  fulfilled,  not  literally  per- 
haps in  all  its  parts,  but  exactly  in  accordance  with  its  spirit. 
And  this  is  the  Avay  in  which  we  are  to  interpret  and  apply, 
not  only  the  highest  prophecy,  but  the  highest  poetry,  the 
profoundest  inductions  of  philosophy,  and  the  grandest  gen- 
eralizations   of  transcendental   mathematics.       The    literal, 


MATTHEW   XXIV.  423 

precise  interpretation  of  a  single  expression  is  often  false, 
and  false  in  proportion  to  the  magnitude  of  the  truth  which 
soars  up  in  its  majestic  proportions  through  such  words  and 
images  as  our  human  forms  of  speech  and  thought  may  fur- 
nish. Any  one  may  see  that  a  literal,  prosaic  interpreta- 
tion of  King  Lear,  or  Paradise  Lost,  sentence  by  sentence, 
in  order  to  show  precisely  what  facts  are  proved  by  them, 
would  do  no  sort  of  justice  to  the  grander  movements  of  soul 
which  fill  out  with  their  inspiration  every  part  of  those  won- 
derful works.  Far  more  in  the  prophetic  words  of  our  Sav- 
iour, which  so  far  surpass  all  the  other  words  that  have  ever 
been  spoken,  it  is  the  letter  that  killeth.  No  one,  whether 
as  the  advocate  or  the  enemy  of  our  faith,  can  understand 
them,  unless  he  enter  beneath  the  letter  into  the  spirit,  and 
thus  catch  as  he  may  something  of  the  inspiration,  the  large- 
ness of  thought  and  affluence  of  life,  which  they  are  fitted  to 
awaken  and  impart.  The  humble  inquirer,  entering  thus 
into  the  heart  of  our  Saviour's  words  that  he  may  cherish 
their  spirit  and  obey  their  commands,  will  come  nearer  to  the 
essential  truth  which  they  are  designed  to  teach,  than  the 
ablest  scholar,  who,  without  religious  sympathies,  or  with  a 
superstitious  regard  to  the  letter,  seeks  to  analyze  them  by 
applying  critically,  sentence  by  sentence,  the  rules  of  the 
grammar  and  lexicon. 


NOTES. 


And  Jesus  went  out,  and  departed  from  the  temple ;  and  his 
disciples  came  to  him,  for  to  show  him  the  buildings  of  the 

].  to  show  him  the  build-  destruction  of  the  temple  could  ap- 
ings] They  were  amazed  at  his  ply  to  an  event  so  utterly  improl)a- 
wonls,  and,  wondering  wliether  ble  as  that,  they  point  out  to  him 
they  could  have  understood  him  the  massive  structures  within  the 
aright,  instead  of  asking  directly  sacred  enclosure,  and  sav,  "  J\Iaster, 
-whether  what  he  had  said  of  the  see  what    manner    of  stones    and 


424 


MATTHEW   XXIV. 


temple.  And  Jesus  said  unto  them,  See  ye  not  all  these 
things  ?  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  there  shall  not  be  left  here  one 

stone  upon  another,  that  shall  not  be  thrown  down. And 

as  he  sat  upon  the  Mount  of  Olives,  the  disciples  came  unto 
him  privately,  saying.  Tell  us,  when  shall  these  things  be  ?  and 
what  shall  be  the  sign  of  thy  coming,  and  of  the  end  of  the 


what  manner  of  buildings."  (Mark 
xiii.  1.)  The  temple  had  been  built 
by  Herod  the  Great,  who  employed 
18,000  men  on  the  work  for  nine 
years  before  the  building  could  be 
used  at  all.  Additions  were  contin- 
ually making  afterwards  till  A.  D. 
64.  It  was  first  occupied  about 
eight  years  before  the  birth  of 
Jesus;  but  as  the  Avoi-k  was  still 
going  on,  it  might  be  said  to  Jesus 
by  the  Jews,  as  in  John  ii.  20,  that 
it  had  then  been  forty  and  six  years 
in  building.  Sixteen  years  added  to 
thirty  —  the  age  of  'Jesus  at  that 
time  —  w^ould  make  the  forty-six. 
Some  of  the  stones  eiuployed  in  the 
building  are  represented'^  by  Jose- 
phus  as  more  than  70  feet  long,  10 
wide,  and  8  high.  Even  Tacitus, 
accustomed  as  he  was  to  the  impe- 
rial Avealth  and  grandeur  of  Roman 
architecture,  speaks  of  the  temple 
as  of  unmeasured  opulence,  "  im- 
meusjB  opulentitB  templum." 

2.  there  shall  not  be  left 
here  one  stone  upon  another] 
According  to  Josephus  (Jewish 
Wars,  VII.  1.  1),  the  Roman  genei-al 
gave  orders  to  demolish  the  entire 
city  and  temple,  except  three  tow- 
ers, which  were  left  to  show  poster- 
ity what  kind  of  a  city  it  had  been. 
"  But  for  all  the  rest  of  the  wall," 
he  says,  "  it  was  so  completely  lev- 
elled with  the  ground  by  those  that 
dug  it  up  to  the  foun'dation,  that 
there  Avas  nothing  left  to  make 
those  Avho  came  thjther  believe  it 
had  ever  been  inhabited." 

3.  And  as  he  sat  upon  the 
Mount  of  Olives]  Opjaosite  to 
Jerusalem,  and  probablv  in  full 
view  of  tlie  temple,  on  which  the 
light  of  the  moon,  then  nearly 
full,  would  shine.  when 

shall  these  things  be?]  The 
question  was  put  privately  by  four 
of  the  disciples  (Mark  xiii.  3). 


and  Avhat  shall  be  the  sign 
of  thy  coming,  and  of  the  end 
of  the  world  ?J  The  fulfilment  of 
the  prediction,  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of  man,  and  the  end  of  the 
world,  i.  e.  the  consummation  of  the 
(Bon,  are  here  put  together  as  belong- 
ing to  the  same  family  of  events. 
In  this  instance  they  primarily  and 
distinctly  refer  to  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem,  the  dispersion  of  the 
Jewish  people,  and  the  passing  away 
of  the  jMosaic  dispensation  as  the 
authorized  religion  of  the  land. 
The  disciples  who  put  the  question 
to  Jesus  undoubtedly  supposed  that 
his  great  but  earthly  kingdom  was 
then  to  be  established  in  Jud^a, 
and  that  -when  he  came  to  close  the 
old  dispensation,  (in  the  end  of  the 
world,  —  the  consummation  of  the 
cEon,)  he  would  commence  his  kingly 
reign  upon  the  earth,  clothed  with 
authority  and  power  like  other 
kings,  only  with  a  greater  majesty 
and  a  more  universal  dominion.  In 
his  reply  he  uses  the  terms,  coining 
of  the  Son  of  man,  the  end,  first  in 
reference  to  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem, but  also,  according  to  his 
usual  manner,  in  such  a  way  as  to 
show  forth  other  and  grander  truths. 
The  retribution  which  was  at  length 
to  fall  upon  the  Jews,  the  end  of 
their  dispensation,  and  the  coming 
of  the  Son  of  man  in  judgment  to 
them,  were  also  terms  equally  ap- 
plicable to  every  human  being. 
The  images  here  used  to  describe  a 
particular  case  so  set  forth  a  uni- 
versal principle  of  divine  retribu- 
tion, that  in  almost  every  instance 
they  may  be  aj)plied  now' to  men  in 
their  individual  experiences.  The 
way  in  which  the  specific  language 
of  Jesus  is  made  to  embody  princi- 
ples of  universal  application  is  more 
marvellous  than  any  miracle  which 
he  wrought.    But  because  his  lau- 


MATTHEW   XXIV. 


425 


4  world?     And  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Take  heed 

5  that  no  man  deceive  you.     For  many  shall  come  in  my  name, 

6  saying,  I  am  Christ ;  and  shall  deceive  many.  And  ye  shall 
hear  of  wars,  and  rumors  of  wars :  see  that  ye  be  not  troubled ; 
for  all  these  things  must  come  to  pass,  but  the  end  is  not  yet. 

7  For  nation  shall  rise  against  nation,  and  kingdom  against 
kingdom  ;    and  there  shall  be  famines,  and  pestilences,  and 

8  earthquakes,  in  divers  places.     All  these  are  the  beginning  of 

9  sorrows.  Then  shall  they  deliver  you  up  to  be  afflicted,  and 
shall  kill  you ;    and  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  nations  for  my 

10  name's  sake.     And  then  shall  many  be  offended ;   and  shall 

11  betray  one  another,  and  shall  hate  one  another.     And  many 

12  false  prophets  shall  rise,  and  shall  deceive  many.    And  because 

13  iniquity  shall  abound,  the  love  of  many  shall  wax  cold.  But 
he  that  shall  endure  unto  the  end,  the  same  shall  be  saved. 

14  And  this  gospel  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  preached  in  all  the 
world,  for  a  witness  unto  all  nations ;  and  then  shall  the  end 

15  come. When  ye,  therefore,  shall  see  the  abomination  of 

desolation,  spoken  of  by  Daniel  the  prophet,  stand  in  the  holy 

16  place,  (whoso  readeth,  let  him  understand,)  then  let  them  which 


guage  is  so  overcharged  with  mean- 
ing, reaching  out  in  every  direction, 
it  is  'exceedingly  difficult  in  any 
single  instance  to  do  justice  to  its 
fuhiess  by  any  one  specific  interpre- 
tation. We  must  bear  this  in  mind, 
especially  in  our  attempts  to  under- 
stand a  Vast,  sublime,  and  compre- 
hensive discourse  like  this,  which 
takes  up  ahnost  as  much  space  in 
the  Gospels  as  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  and  which,  if  the  whole  of 
it  were  confined  to  the  destniction 
of  Jerusalem,  would  occupy  a  place 
wholly  out  of  proportion  to  its  im- 
portance in  the  records  of  a  divine 
and  universal  religion. 
4.  Take  heed  that  no  man 
deceive  you]  Calamities  may 
come,  many  and  fearful,  —  impos- 
tors, nunors  of  wars,  famines  and 
earthquakes,  —  but  these  are  only 
the  preliminary  symptoms,  —  the 
beginning  of  those'  birth-pangs  by 
which  the  regeneration,  the  birth  of 
the  new  world  or  dispensation ,  is  to 
be  accomplished.  13.  he 

that    shall    endure    unto   the 
36*- 


end]  This  may  refer  to  the  escape 
from  impending  death  of  the  Chris- 
tians, who  remembered  these  warn- 
ings, and  held  out  to  the  end  in  their 
fidelity  to  Christ.  But  the  language 
applies  with  equal  force  to  the  re- 
ward of  fidelity  which  shall  crown 
with  salvation  every  one  who  con- 
tinues faithfully  to  the  end. 

14.  in  all  the  world]  throughout 
the  Roman  empire,  or  the  known  and 
habitable  world.  In  consequence  of 
the  unsettled  state  of  Palestine,  and 
the  persecutions  there,  the  ministers 
of  Christ  went  abroad,  more  than 
they  otherwise  might  have  done, 
among  all  nations,  —  into  Asia  Mi- 
nor, and  the  remote  East,  into  Af- 
rica, and  through  Europe  to  the 
western  boundaries  of  Spain. 

15,  stand  in  the  holy  place]  in 
a  holv  place.  There  is  no  article. 
The  holy  place  would  denote  the 
enclosures  of  the  temple.  But  a 
holy  place  might  be  outside  of.  the 
city  ;  e.  g.  on  the  Mount  of  Olives, 
which  was  occupied  by  Eoman 
troops  previously  to  the  destruction 


42G 


MATTHEW    XXIV. 


be  in  Judsea  flee  into  the  mountains  ;  let  him  which  is  on  the  17 
house-top  not  come  down  to  take  anything  out  of  his  house  ; 
neither  let  him  which  is  in  the  field  return  back  to  take  his  is 
clothes.     And  woe  unto  them  that  are  with  child,  and  to  them  19 
that  give  suck,  in  those  days  !     But  pray  ye  that  your  flight  be  20 
not  in  the  winter,  neither  on  the  sabbath-day.     For  then  shall  21 
be  great  tribulation,  such  as  was  not  since  the  beginning  of  the 
world  to  this  time,  no,  nor  ever  shall  be.     And  except  those  22 
days  should  be  shortened,  there  should  no  flesh  be  saved  ;  but 
for  the  elect's  sake  those  days  shall  be  shortened.     Then  if  23 
any  man  shall  say  unto  you,  Lo,  here  is  Christ,  or  there ;  be- 
lieve it  not.      For  there  shall  arise  false   Christs,   and  false  24 
prophets,  and  shall  show  great  signs  and  wonders,  insomuch 


of  the  city,  Avhoso  read- 

eth,  let  him  understand]  Mat- 
thew probably  wrote  his  Gospel  on 
the  eve  of  the  events  here  foretold ; 
and  it  is  supposed  that  he  inserted 
these  words  to  call  the  attention  of 
his  readers  to  the  sign  here  indi- 
cated, and  thus  warn  them  of  the 
approaching  dangers.  Mark  inserts 
the  same  caution.  17.  on 

the  house-top]  The  roofs  being 
flat,  those  who  were  on  them  in 
tlie  city  could  pass  from  house  to 
house,  and  thus  escape  over  the 
walls.  The  expression,  however,  is 
designed  merely  to  indicate  the  ne- 
cessity of  great  haste. 
19.  And  woe  unto  them]  Here 
is  an  instance  of  our  Saviour's  ten- 
der, thoughtful,  and  compassionate 
sympathy  for  women.  The  expres- 
sion, woe  unto  them,  uttered  here 
with  such  a  depth  of  commisera- 
tion, may  also  have  been  spoken 
more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger,  even 
when  it  occurs  in  his  most  terrible 
denunciations,  as,  for  example,  in 
the  twenty-third  chapter. 
22.  for  the  elect's  sake]  On 
their  account.  God  does  interfere  to 
change  the  direction  of  human  af- 
foirs  and  shorten  the  season  of  ter- 
rible calamities  on  account  of  his 
elect,  —  of  those  who  endear  them- 
selves to  him  by  their  fidelity. 

24.  there  shall  arise  false 
Christs]  "  The  nearer  the  Jews 
were  to  destruction,  the  more  did 


these  impostors  multiply,  and  the 
more  easy  credit  did  they  find  with 
those  who  were  willing  to  have 
their  miseries  softened  by  hope. 
Even  during  the  conflagration  of 
the  temple,  a  false  prophet  encour- 
aged the  people  with  pretended  mi- 
raculous signs  of  deliverance.  The 
Jewish  Christians  themselves  were 
very  unwilling  to  give  xip  all  hope 
of  deliverance  from  their  subjection 
to  the  Romans:  this  accounts  for 
the  language  of  Christ,  when  he 
speaks  of  the  danger  which  the 
elect  were  in  of  being  deceived  by 
these  impostors;  and  shows  his 
wisdom  and  goodness  in  forewarn- 
ing them  against  tnisting  to  the  fal- 
lacious promises  of  persons  who  af- 
firmed confidently  that  they  wei-e 
divinely  raised  up,  to  accomplish 
such  a  deliverance."     Kenrick. 

great  signs  and  wonders] 
signs,  to  convince  and  mislead  them ; 
wonde7's,  or  portents  and  prodigies, 
to  perplex  and  terrify  them.  In 
times  of  great  public  commotion 
and  alarm,  men's  hearts  failing 
them  for  fear  because  of  the  uni- 
versal insecurity  and  distress,  they 
feel  that  desperate  measures  are 
rendered  necessary  by  the  desper- 
ate condition  of  affair's.  When  not 
only  governments  are  losing  their 
authority,  and  laws  and  rulers  are 
hated  and  rebelled  against,  but  the 
whole  social  fiibric  is  breaking  up; 
when  a  universal  distrust  succeeds 


MATTHEW   XXIV. 


427 


25  that,  if  It  were  possible,  they  shall  deceive  the  very  elect.     Be- 

26  hold,  I  have   told  you  before.     Wherefore,  if  they  shall  say 
unto  you,  Behold,  he  is  in  the  desert ;  go  not  forth  :  Behold, 

27  he  is  in  the  secret  chambers  ;  believe  it  not.     For  as  the  light- 
ning Cometh  out  of  the  east,  and  shineth  even  unto  the  west, 

28  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be.     For  whereso- 


to  confidence  in  the  family  relations, 
and  faith  is  dying  out,  —  then,  in  the 
convulsive  tllroes  and  agitations  of 
society,  bold,  bad  men  are  in  the 
ascendant  ;  impostors  and  deceiv- 
ers reign  amid  the  general  wreck 
of  earthly  interests  and  heavenly 
hopes;  with  an  insane  and  frantic 
desperation  men  rush  into  any  ex- 
travagant delusions  that  are  impu- 
dent enough  to  promise  relief.  The 
most  reckless  credulity,  at  such 
times,  succeeds  to  an  utter  want  of 
faith,  in  sudden  and  frenzied  alter- 
nations. The  dissolution  of  society, 
the  disintegi'ation  of  all  the  ele- 
ments of  social,  moral,  and  relig- 
ious influence,  the  universal  break- 
ing up,  which  comes  as  "  the  end 
of  the  world"  {crvvTeXeia  tgv  alco- 
vos)  to  the  old  and  long  established 
order  of  things,  are  marked  by  these 
wild  and  terrific  changes  and  exag- 
gerations. It  was  so  in  the  break- 
ing up  of  the  Jewish  polity.  It 
Avas  so  in  Rome,  where  at  about 
the  same  time,  amid  similar  com- 
motions and  catastrophes  in  the 
moral  and  social  condition  of  the 
people,  the  dissolution  of  the  old 
civilization  was  preparing  a  way 
for  the  introduction  of  higher  ideas 
in  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man. 
But  there  never  was  a  period  in  the 
Eoman  history  whan  such  extrava- 
gances of  superstitious  credulity,  ac- 
companied by  all  the  worst  sorts  of 
religious  imposture,  prevailed,  as  in 
that  unbelieving  and  godless  age. 
Against  such  times  and  dangers, 
though  they  had  not  begun  to  show 
themselves'  when  he  spoke,  Jesus 
uttered  these  distinct  and  solemn 
warnings.  "With  his  profound  and 
prophetic  msight  into  the  human 
soul,  and  into  tlie  moral  relations  of 
cause  and  efi'ect,  he  saw  then  the 
seeds  of  impiety  and  superstition, 


credulity  and  unbelief,  which  must 
bring  forth  such  a  harvest  of  decep- 
tion and  crime,  and  thus,  in  the 
overthrow  of  the  past,  prepare  the 
way  for  the  introduction  of  the  new 
dispensation.  Compare  with  this 
the  pi-ophecies  (bel'ore  quoted)  in 
the  last  two  chapters  of  Malachi; 
and  the  destructive  and  warlike 
processes  by  Avhich  the  khigdom 
spoken  of  in  the  one  hundi-ed  and 
tenth  Psalm  was  to  be  established. 
See  note,  xxiii.  39. 
26.  Wherefore,  if  they  shall 
say  unto  you]  "  Christ  here  men- 
tions the  very  places  where  these 
deceivers  Avould  appear,  and  Jose- 
phus  tells  us,  that  impostors,  under 
pretence  of  a  divine  inspiration,  en- 
deavored to  introduce  novelty  and 
change,  and  raised  the  common 
people  to  such  a  degree  of  mad- 
ness, that  they  drew  them  forth 
into  the  desert,'^pretending  that  God 
would  there  make  them  see  the  to- 
kens of  liberty,  i.  e.  of  their  being 
rescued  from  the  Roman  yoke.  He 
also  mentions  some  who  appeared 
in  secret  chambers,  or  places  of  se- 
curity in  the  city."     Kenrick. 

27.  so  shall  also  the 
coming  of  the  Son  of  man 
he]  He  was  to  come  in  judgment 
to  the  Jews,  —  the  end  of  the  world 
to  them,  for  their  tvorld,  age,  or  dis- 
2)ensa(ion  was  now  to  end,  —  but  at 
the  same  time  he  was  to  come  in 
his  religion,  with  a  new  world,  age, 
or  dispensation,  to  those  who  would 
receive  him.  Herein  his  coming 
then  was  an  emblem  of  his  final 
coming  to  all,  —  in  judgment  and 
with  the  loss  of  all  that  they  most 
valued  to  the  unfaithful  and  unbe- 
lieving, to  those  Avho  have  lived 
only  for  this  world ;  —  Avith  a  7ieio 
loorld  of  life  and  joy  to  the  penitent 
and  the  faithful  who  beheve  iu  him. 


428 


MATTHEW    XXIV. 


ever  the  carcass  is,  there  will  the  eagles  be  gathered  together. 

• Immediately  after  the  tribulation  of  those  days  shall  the  29 

sun  be  darkened,  and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light,  and 
the  stars  shall  fall  from  heaven,  and  the  powers  of  the  heavens 
shall  be  shaken.  And  then  shall  appear  the  sign  of  the  Son  30 
of  man  in  heaven ;  and  then  shall  all  the  tribes  of  the  earth 
mourn,  and  they  shall  see  the  Son  of  man  coming  in  the  clouds 
of  heaven,  with  power  and  great  glory.  And  he  shall  send  his  3i 
angels  with  a  great  sound  of  a  trumpet ;  and  they  shall  gather 


29.  Immediately  after 
the  tribulation  of  those  days 
shall    the    sun    be    darkened] 

"  '  A  day  of  darkness  '  is  an  obvious 
figure  for '  a  day  of  distress.'  Hence, 
in  the  Oriental  style,  a  time  of  utter 
calamity,  the  destruction  of  a  na- 
tion, is  described  by  the  extinction 
of  the  sun,  and  the  other  lights  of 
heaven.  Thus  Isaiah  (xiii.  9, 
10),  in  speaking  of  the  destruction 
of  Babylon,  says :  '  Beliold,  the  day 
of  Jehovah  is  coming,  cruel  with 
wrath  and  fierce  anger,  to  lay  the 
land  desolate  and  to  destroy  its 
sinners  out  of  it.  For  the  stars 
of  heaven  and  its  constellations 
shall  not  give  their  light,  and  the 
sun  shall  be  darkened  in  his  going 
forth,  and  the  moon  shall  not  cause 
her  light  to  shine.'  So  also  Ezekiel, 
describing  the  fall  of  Egypt  (xxxii. 
7,  8)."  Norton's  Translation  of  the 
Gospels,  II.  ',28. 

30.  And  then  shall  appear  the 
sign  of  the  8ou  of  man  in 
heaven]  The  fulfilment  of  the 
events  here  predicted  would  be  a 
sign  of  the  Son  of  man  in  heaven; 
and  while  all  the  tribes  of  the  land 
—  not  of  the  earth  —  should  smite 
their  breasts  and  mourn,  they  would 
recognize  in  these  calamities,  which 
he  had  foi-etold  as  the  downfall  of 
their  polity  and  their  nation,  the  evi- 
dence of  his  truth,  and  in  them  would 
see  him  coming  as  on  the  clouds  of 
heaven,  and  with  power  and  great 
glory,  to  establish  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  on  earth.  in  the 

clouds  of  heaven]  This  was  an 
image  familiar  to  the  Jews,  and 
was  perhaps  derived,  in  the  first 
instance,  from  the  pillar  of  cloud 
which  went  before  them  in  the  -wil- 


derness as  an  emblem  of  God's 
providential  care  and  presence. 
"  The  glory  of  the  Lord  appeared 
in  the  cloud."  (Ex.  xvi.  10.)  God 
"  called  unto  Moses  out  of  the  midst 
of  the  cloud."  (Ex.  xxiv.  16.)  From 
these  and  similar  expressions  often 
repeated  in  the  Pentateuch,  the  idea 
of  any  special  act  of  Divine  inter- 
ference with  human  affairs  would 
naturally  clothe  itself  in  imagery  of 
this  sort.  Thus  %vhen  Isaiah  (xix. 
1)  would  represent  God  as  about 
to  punish  the  Egyptians,  he  says, 
"  Behold,  the  Lord  rideth  upon  a 
swift  cloud,  and  shall  come  into 
Egypt."  The  language  of  course 
Avas  figurative.  God  was  not  rep- 
resented as  visibly  or  actually  rid- 
ing on  a  cloud.  So  in  the  passage 
before  us,  this  image  of  impressive 
grandeur  is  employed  to  describe 
the  majesty  of  the  Son  of  man 
when  he  shall  come  in  judgment  to 
the  Jews,  i.  e.  in  the  power  of  those 
divine  principles  of  justice,  which, 
as  embodied  in  his  religion,  were 
then  to  be  enforced,  and  by  which 
the  way  Avas  to  be  prepared  for  the 
wide  and  speedy  establishment  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  i.  e.  of  his 
religion  on  the  earth. 
81.  And  he  shall  send  his 
angels]  Literally,  his  messengers. 
In  the  Gospels  the  Avord  angel  is 
almost  ahvays  used  to  denote  heaA'^- 
enly  beings.  But  there  are  excep- 
tions. "  And  Avhen  the  messengers 
[nngels]  of  John  had  departed." 
(Luke  vii.  24.)  "This  is  he  of 
Avhom  it  is  Avritten,  Behold,  I  send 
my  messenger  [nngel]  before  thy 
face."  (Luke  vii.  27.)  When  Jesus 
Avas  going  up  to  Jerusalem,  he 
"  sent   messengers   [angels]   before 


MATTHEW  XXIV. 


429 


together  his  elect  from  the  four  winds,  from  one  end  of  heaven 

32  to  the  other. Now  learn  a  parable  of  the  fig-tree ;  when 

his  branch  is  yet  tender  and  putteth  forth  leaves,  ye  know  that 

33  sunmier  is  nigh.     So  likewise  ye,  when  ye  shall  see  all  these 

34  things,  know  that  it  is  near,  even  at  the  doors.     Verily  I  say 
unto  you,  this  generation  shall  not  pass  till  all  these  things  be 

35  fulfilled.     Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away ;  but  my  words 

36  shall  not  pass  away. But  of  that  day  and  hour  knoweth  no 


his  face."  (Luke  ix.  52.)  These 
passages  are  all  from  Luke.  Li  the 
other  Gospels  there  is,  we  believe, 
no  instance  of  a  similar  use  of  the 
word,  unless  in  the  case  before  us. 
In  the  Apocalypse  (ii.  1,  8,  18;  iii. 
1)  the  expression  '•'•  anyel  of  the 
chm*ch"  is  evidently  applied  to  the 
minister  or  bishop  of  the  church. 
And  this,  we  suppose,  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  in  the  passage  be- 
fore us.  When  the  hitherto  pow- 
erful elements  of  Jewish  hostility 
should  be  oveithrown  and  destroyed, 
and  the  way  open  everywhere'  for 
the  more  rapid  diffusion  of  the  Gos- 
pel, the  Son  of  man  would  send 
forth  his  messengers  with  a  gi-eat 
somid  of  a  trumpet  —  the  trumpet 
was  used  by  the  Jews  to  call  relig- 
ious assemblies  together — as  her- 
alds of  salvation,  to  gather  together 
his  chosen  ones,  i.  e.  those  who 
would  hear  and  obey  the  call,  from 
every  quarter  under  heaven.  They 
who  were  ready  to  hear  and  obey 
would  thus  be  gathered  into  hfs 
church.  "  32.  Now  learn 

a  parable  of  the  fig-tree]  "  On 
my  first  arrival  in  the  soutliern  part 
of  Syria,  near  the  end  of  ]March, 
most  of  the  fruit-trees  Avere  clothed 
with  foliage,  and  in  blossom.  The 
fig-tree,  on  the  contrary,  was  much 
behind  them  in  this  respect,  for  the 
leaves  of  this  tree  do  not  make  their 
appearance  till  comparatively  late 
in  the  season.  As  the  spring  is  so 
far  advanced  before  the  leaves  of  the 
fig-tree  begin  to  appear,  (the  early 
fruit,  indeed,  comes  first,)  a  person 
may  be  sure,  when  he  beholds  this 
sign,  that  summer  is  at  hand." 
Hackett.  33.  know  that 

it  is  near]  When  ye  shall  see  all 
these  signs  fulfilled,  then  know  that 


it  —  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man 
in  the  destiaiction  of  Jerusalem  — 
is  near,  nay,  is  at  your  very  doors. 

34.  This  generation 
shall  not  pass]  In  order  to  im- 
press it  upon  his  disciples'  minds 
that  he  was  not  speaking  of  some 
event  in  the  remote  and  indefinite 
future,  he  fixes  the  time,  as  in  Matt, 
xvi.  28,  within  the  lifetime  of  some 
of  those  Avho  belonged  to  that  gen- 
eration. This  definite  limitation  of 
time  confines  the  signs  thus  far  men- 
tioned to  a  period  harmonizing  witiL 
their  consummation  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem  and  the  events 
immediately  preceding  and  follow- 
ing it.  At  the  same  time,  we  must 
admit  that  much  of  the  language, 
which  was  unquestionably  spoken 
Avith  a  specific  reference  to  that 
class  of  events,  may  be  read  now 
with  something  of  a  personal  appli- 
cation to  ourselves.  36.  But 
of  that  day  and  hour]  The 
obvious  interpretation  of  this  pas- 
sage is,  that  though  all  these  things 
shall  take  place  befoi-e  the  present 
generation  shall  pass  away,  yet  no 
one  knows  the  precise  day  and  hour 
of  their  fulfilment.  But  there  is 
another  interpretation  which  seems 
to  us  more  in  accordance  Avith  our 
Saviour's  usual  method  of  instruc- 
tion, mingling  together  as  he  often 
does  things  temporal  and  things 
eternal,  and  passing  almost  insensi- 
bly from  the  one  order  of  facts  and 
CA-ents  to  the  other.  The  language 
Avhich  heretofore, in  pointing  to  a  sin- 
gle event,  overflows  Avith  thoughts 
and  images  that  reach  beyond  it, 
here  ceases  to  dAvell  on  the  single 
instance  of  divine  retribution  as  the 
principal  topic,  and,  touching  only 
incidentally  on  circumstances  con- 


430 


MATTHEW    XXIV. 


man,  no,  not  the  angels  of  heaven,  but  my  Father  only.     But  37 
as  the  days  of  Noe  were,  so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
man  be.     For  as  in  the  days  that  were  before  the  flood  they  38 
were  eating  and  drinking,  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage, 
until  the  day  that  Noe  entered  into  the  ark,  and  knew  not  until  39 
the  flood  came  and  took  them  all  away  ;  so  shall  also  the  com- 
ing of  the  Son  of  man  be.     Then  shall  two  be  in  the  field ;  40 
the  one  shall  be  taken,  and  the  other  left.     Two  women  shall  41 
be  grinding  at  the  mill ;  the  one  shall  be  taken,  and  the  other 
left.     Watch,  therefore,  for  ye  know  not  what  hour  your  Lord  42 


nected  with  it,  holds  up,  in  the 
background,  the  termination  of  our 
human  and  mortal  life,  and  the  ret- 
ributions which  shall  then  succeed. 
The  transition  from  the  specific  to 
the  universal  is  indicated,  if  not 
distinctly  announced,  by  the  words 
employed.  "  The  Lord,"  says  Ben- 
gel,  "  shows  the  time  of  the' temple 
and  of  the  city  in  ver.  32-34;  he 
denies  in  this  Verse  that  the  day 
and  hour  of  the  world  [to  each 
soul]  are  known,  ^he  particle  fie, 
but,  implies  a  contrast:  the  pro- 
nouns ravra,  these,  avrr),  this,  refer 
to  events  close  at  hand ;  the  jironoun 
€K€Lvrjs,  that,  to  that  which  is  dis- 
tant." These  things  of  which  I 
have  been  speaking  shall  all  take 
place  in  the  present  generation ;  but 
of  that  day  and  hour  [when  the  Son 
of  man  hi  a  still  higher  sense  shall 
come]  no  one  knoweth.  That  dmj 
is  several  times  used  in  this  sense. 
"  In  that  day  many  shall  say  to  me, 
Lord,  Lord,  did  we  not  prophesy  in 
thy  name,  &c.  And  then  will  I 
confess  to  them,  I  never  knew  you; 
depart  from  me,  ye  Avorkers  of  in- 
iquity." (Matt.  vii.  22,  23.)  "  Hence- 
forth there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown 
of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord, 
the  righteous  judge,  shall  give  me 
at  that  day."  (2  Tim.  iv.  8.)  Some 
commentators  suppose  that  there  is 
no  such  transition  as  we  have  here 
suggested,  but  that  the  whole  dis- 
course of  our  Saviour  down  to  the 
end  of  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  re- 
lates to  the  desti-uc'tion  of  Jerusalem. 
It  requires  much  ingenuity  to  ajiply 
all  his  words  to  that  subject,  and 


the  majestic  images  which  he  em- 
ploys seem  to  us  degraded  by  such 
a  limitation  of  their  meaning.  But 
why,  if  he  passed  from  one  subject 
to  the  other,  did  he  not  more  dis- 
tinctly indicate  the  point  of  transi- 
tion? We  can  only  say,  1.  that 
there  is  what  seems  to  us  an  indica- 
tion of  such  a  transition;  and  2. 
that  it  was  not  his  habit  to  mark, 
like  a  modern  logician,  the  different 
topics  of  his  discourse,  especially 
when,  as  in  this  case,  they  were,  to 
his  mind,  only  different  phases  of 
the  same  thought  or  illustrations  of 
the  same  principle.  To  his  wonder- 
ful intuitive  perceptions,  the  pai-tic- 
ular  included  the  universal.  Partic- 
ular facts  were  held  up  as  illustra- 
tions of  general  principles,  and  facts 
which  we  from  our  superficial  habits 
of  thought  regard  as  wholly  distinct 
were  gi-ouped  together  by  him,  be- 
cause the  same  underlying  principle 
reaches  through  them  all  and  makes 
them  ptu-ts  of  the  same  series.  It 
is  only  by  going  down  to  this  under- 
lying "thought  that  we  can  learn  the 
close  logical  connection  by  which 
the  different  parts  of  his  discourses 
are  bound  together.  42. 

Watch,  therefore]  "You  may 
ask  why  those  who  were  so  far 
distant  from  the  last  day  wei-e  ex- 
horted to  watchfulness  on  that 
ground.  I  answer,  —  1.  The  remote- 
ness of  the  event  had  not  been  in- 
dicated to  them.  2.  Those  who 
ai'e  alive  at  any  particular  time 
represent  those  who  Avill  be  alive 
at  the  end  of  the  world.  3.  The 
principle  of  the  divine  judgments, 
and  of  the  uncertainty  of  the  hour 


MATTHEW   XXIV.  431 

43  doth  come.  But  know  this,  that,  If  the  goodman  of  the  house 
had  known  in  what  watch  the  thief  would  come,  he  would  have 
watched,  and  Avould  not  have  suffered  his  house  to  be  broken 

44  up.     Therefore  be  ye  also  ready  ;  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye 

45  think  not,  the  Son  of  man  cometh.  Who  then  is  a  faithful 
and  wise  servant,  whom  his  lord  hath  made  ruler  over  his 

46  household,  to  give  them  meat  in  due  season  ?  Blessed  is  that 
servant  whom  his  lord,  when  he  cometh,  shall  find  so  doing. 

47  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  that  he  shall  make  him  ruler  over  all 

48  his  goods.     But  and  if  that  evil  servant  shall  say  in  his  heart, 

49  My  lord  delayeth  his  coming ;    and  shall  begin  to  smite  his 

50  fellow-servants,  and  to  eat  and  drink  'with  the  drunken ;  the 
lord  of  that  servant  shall  come  in  a  day  when  he  looketh  not 

61  for  him,  and  in  an  hour  that  he  is  not  aware  of;  and  shall  cut 
him  asunder,  and  appoint  him  his  portion  with  the  hypocrites ; 
there  shall  be  weeping,  and  gnashing  of  teeth. 

of  death,  resembles  in  every  age  clay,  niiglit  be  entered  Avith  little 
that  of  the  last  day;  and  the  hour  difficulty  by  digging  through  the 
of  death  is  equiva'lent  to  the  lionr  walls.  See' note,  vi.  19.  45. 
of  resurrection  and  judgment,  as  Who  then  is  a  faithful]  the 
though  no  time  had  been  inter-  faithful  and  wise  servant.  51. 
posed.  4.  The  feeling  of  the  godly,  and  shall  cut  him  asunder] 
which  stretches  forward  to  meet  cut  him  in  jrieces,  "  a  cruel  kind  of 
the  Lord,  is  the  same,  whether  punishment  practised  among  the 
with  the  longest  or  the  shortest  Hebrews  and  other  ancient  nations." 
expectation."  Bengel.  To  us  who  Here  it  is  used  figuratively,  to  de- 
believe  that  the  day  of  each  one's  note  a  severe  punishment.  It  may 
death  is  the  day  also  of  his  resur-  mean  io  cut  off  or  separate.  "  He 
rection  and  judgment,  these  re-  will  cut  him  "off  [from  his  present 
marks  come  with  greater  force  associates]  and  assign  him  his  por- 
than  to  Bengel,  who  believed  as  tion  with  the  hypocrites." 
]\Iartha  did  (John  xi.  24)  before  the  hypocrites]  This  word 
Jesus  had  taught  her  better,  that  is  used  by  Jesus  to  denote  those 
we  "  shall  rise  again  in  the  resiu--  who  have  incuired  the  greatest 
rection  at  the  last  day."  43.  possible  guilt,  making  virtue  and 
his  house  to  be  broken  up]  religion  a  cloak  for  their  hideous 
diopvyrjvai,  to  be  dug  through.  The  crimes  agamst  God  and  man. 
houses,  being  built  of  stones  and 


432  MATTHEW   XXV.    1-13. 


CHAPTER    XXY. 

Purpose  of  these  Parables. 

The  conclusions  at  which  we  arrived  in  the  last  chapter 
make  the  interpretation  of  the  present  chapter  easy.  From 
the  judgments  of  God  which  are  represented  by  the  coming 
of  the  Son  of  man  in  the  retributions  which  fell  on  the 
Jewish  city  and  people,  the  transition  (xxiv.  36)  is  nat- 
ural to  the  judgments  of  God  which  are  represented  by 
the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  in  the  retributions  which 
await  each  individual  soul  when  its  period  of  earthly  proba- 
tion is  ended.  The  twenty-fourth  and  twenty-fifth  chapters 
are  continuous  parts  of  the  same  discourse,  which  treats  of 
the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  in  the  retributions  of  God 
on  a  wicked  city  and  people,  on  each  individual  soul  at  the 
close  of  its  earthly  life,  and  on  all  the  nations  of  men.  The 
momentous  thought  which  presents  itself  to  any  one  who 
carefully  reads  the  parables  here  given,  is  unquestionably 
that  which  they  were  intended  to  teach.  The  impression 
which  they  make  as  a  whole  is  the  true  one,  and  it  ought 
not  to  be  weakened  or  disturbed  by  any  minute  analysis  of 
the  parts.  One  after  another,  by  images  the  most  awful 
that  can  be  presented  to  the  soul,  they  would  set  before  us, 
in  their  most  personal  and  practical  form,  the  principles  of  a 
divine  retribution,  and  thus  keep  alive  in  us  a  sense  of 
solemn  accountability  to  God,  and  the  need  of  constant 
diligence  and  watchfulness  in  our  calling. 

Parable  of  the  Virgins. 

1-13.  In  xxiv.  37-51  we  are  exhorted  to  watch, 
because  we  know  not  how  soon  our  Lord  will  come ;  and 


MATTHEW   XXY.    1-13.  433 

here,  by  the  example  of  the  wise  and  foolish  virgins,  we 
are  taught  not  only  to  be  ready  noAv,  but  to  make  provision 
also  for  the  future ;  for  we  know  not  how  long  we  may  have 
to  wait  for  his  coming.  They  who  are  represented  by  the 
wise  virgins  "  foresee,"  says  Trench,  "  that  they  may  have 
a  long  life  to  live  of  toil  and  self-denial,  before  they  are 
called  to  cease  from  their  labors,  before  the  kingdom  shall 
come  unto  them ;  —  and  consequently  feel  that  it  is  not  a  few 
excited  feelings  which  will  carry  them  successfully  through 
all  this.  They  feel  that  principles  as  well  as  feelings  must 
be  engaged  in  the  work,  —  that  their  first  good  impulses  and 
desires  will  carry  them  but  a  very  little  way,  unless  they  be 
revived,  strengthened,  and  purified  by  a  continual  supply  of 
the  Spirit  of  God.  If  the  bridegroom  were  to  come  at  once, 
perhaps  it  might  be  another  thing,  but  their  wisdom  is,  that, 
since  it  may  possibly  be  otherwise,  they  see  their  need  of 
making  provision  against  the  contingency."  Another  dis- 
tinction between  this  and  the  previous  parable  is,  that  in 
that  acts  of  wickedness  are  reproved ;  here,  a  lack  of  the 
Christian  virtues,  —  not  bad  oil,  but  no  oil.  There  is  little 
reserved  power  for  the  unknown  contingencies  that  may 
arise.  "  By  the  lighted  lamps,"  says  Gerhard,  "  may  be 
understood  the  external  profession  and  outward  form  of 
piety,"  as  well  as  the  sudden  emotions  connected  with  it ; 
"  by  the  oil  in  the  vessels,  the  inward  righteousness  of  the 
heart,  true  faith,  sincere  love,  watchfulness,  and  prudence, 
which,  though  unnoticed  by  man,  are  God's  alone."  >Yith 
what  a  solemn  emphasis  do  the  words,  "  and  the  door  was 
shut,"  fall  upon  the  heart !  The  privilege,  whatever  it  may 
be,  which  we  have  neglected  to  prepare  ourselves  to  improve, 
is  closed  against  us.  Thus  day  after  day  the  door  is  shut ; 
and  if  at  its  close  the  whole  of  life  has  failed  of  its  great 
purpose  in  regard  to  us,  its  privileges  are  all  withdrawn, 
the  door  is  shut,  and  we  are  left  outside  in  dai'kness  and 
sorrow. 

37  BB 


434  MATTHEW   XXV.    14-30. 

Parable  of  the  Talents. 

14-30.  This  parable  goes  a  step  further.  Not  merely 
must  we  abstain  from  cruel  and  wicked  acts ;  not  merely 
must  we  have  a  reserved  fund  of  religious  principle  for 
future  emergencies  ;  but  we  must  increase  that  fund  by  con- 
stant fidelity  in  the  use  of  it.  Not  only  are  we  accountable 
for  what  has  been  given  to  us,  but  also  for  the  gain  which 
we  might  secure  by  using  it  with  diligence  and  care.  God 
provides  us  with  opportunities  according  to  our  several 
abilities.  These  opportunities  are  really  ours  only  as  we 
avail  ourselves  of  them.  He  who  neglected  to  use  the  one 
talent  had  not  even  that.  The  great  law  of  our  naturie  and 
of  retributive  justice  here  laid  down  is,  —  1.  that  we  cannot 
really  continue  to  possess  any  one  of  God's  gifts,  except  so 
far  as  we  faithfully  exercise,  appropriate,  and  improve  it ; 
and,  2.  that  we  are  accountable,  not  for  the  amount  that  we 
have  gained,  but  for  our  diligence  and  fidelity  in  the  use  of 
what  has  been  entrusted  to  us.  It  is  not,  "Well  done,  good 
and  successful,  but  good  and  faithful  servant.  He  who  had 
gained  five,  and  he  who  had  gained  two  talents,  are  in  the 
same  terms  welcomed  to  the  joy  of  their  Lord.  And  he 
who  came  with  his  one  talent  was  condemned,  not  because 
he  had  been  unfortunate,  but  because,  harboring  evil 
thoughts  towards  his  lord,  he  had  shown  himself  a  wicked 
and  slothful  servant  in  the  use  he  had  made  of  the  talent 
intrusted  to  him.  Verses  25  -  28  show  how  an  evil  dispo- 
sition of  mind  and  heart  lies  at  the  bottom  of  a  sluggish  and 
unfaithful  life.  The  want  of  opportunity  is  oftener  the  fault 
than  the  misfortune  of  those  who  resort  to  it  as  an  excuse 
for  their  evil  conduct ;  and  therefore  it  can  only  aggravate 
their  condenmation. 

Parable  of  the  Sheep  and  the  Goats. 

31-46.  Thus  far  this  world  has  been  in  the  foreground, 
its  characters  and  acts  visibly  ripening  for  the  judgments 


MATTHEAV   XXV.    31-46.  435 

which  are  represented  as  taking  place  at  the  coming  of  the 
Son  of  man.  Here  the  higher  world  is  brought  forward, 
and  the  actions  of  this  mortal  life,  the  deeds  done  in  the 
body,  lie  in  the  background,  and  appear  only  in  their  results. 
Not  the  scenes  and  events  of  this  life,  hastening  to  judg- 
ment, but  the  judgments  which  await  them  in  another  world, 
are  foremost  in  the  picture.  Heretofore  the  mind  has  dwelt 
on  individual  cases,  —  the  wicked  city  and  people,  the  cruel 
servant,  the  ten  virgins,  the  three  servants  to  whom  the 
different  talents  were  intrusted  ;  but  now,  by  one  majestic 
sweep  of  thought,  all  individual  cases  from  all  ages  and 
nations  are  brought  together,  and  tlie  view  is  the  most  awful 
and  sublime  that  has  ever  been  presented  in  human  lan- 
guao^e.  "  But  when  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his 
glory,  and  all  the  angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  on  the 
throne  of  his  glory,  and  before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  the 
nations."  So,  2  Cor.  v.  10 :  "  For  we  must  all  appear 
before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,  that  every  one  may 
receive  according  to  what  he  hath  done  in  the  body,  whether 
it  be  good  or  bad."  So  again.  Rev.  xx.  12:  "  And  I  saw 
the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before  God ;  and  the  books 
were  opened."  The  great  fact  that  every  soul  shall  here- 
after meet  a  retribution  in  accordance  with  its  life  here,  is 
thus  set  before  us  in  language  the  most  solemn  and  emphatic. 
And  the  grounds  on  which  the  sentence  rests,  as  in  Matt, 
vii.  22,  23,  are  not  outward  professions  or  forms  of  belief, 
but  the  principles  of  holiness  and  love  manifested  on  earth, 
though  in  ways  and  acts  obscure  and  unrecognized  by 
man.  He  who  sits  upon  the  throne  of  judgment  identifies 
himself  with  every  one  of  his  suffering  brethren,  and  in  the 
great  day  of  account  will  acknowledge  any  act  of  kindness 
done  to  the  least  of  them  as  if  it  had  been  done  to  him. 
Both  righteous  and  wicked  are  filled  with  amazement  and 
surprise  ;  but  not  the  less,  therefore,  shall  the  words  of 
Christ  stand  ;  and  the  inward  life  of  all,  as  revealed  to  him 
in  their  conduct,  shall  go  on  working  out  for  each  one  the 


436  MATTHEW   XXV.    S1-4G. 

awards  of  eternal  justice.  Now  that  the  true  character  of 
that  life  is  fully  manifested  in  the  light  of  divine  truth,  or 
the  all-enlightening  presence  of  Christ,  it  fixes  its  stamp  on 
every  soul,  and  divides  them  even  as  a  shepherd  separates 
his  sheep  from  the  goats.  No  longer  united  by  ties  of  kin- 
dred, the  bonds  of  neighborhood,  or  the  necessities  of  our 
mortal  condition,  they  are  separated  from  one  another,  and 
drawn  by  the  very  affinities  of  their  nature,  these  into 
eternal  punishment,  but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal. 
Eternal,  —  an  epithet  applying  to  the  new  era,  the  more 
advanced  condition  of  being  on  which  they  have  entered, 
and  applying  also  to  the  elements  or  principles  of  spiritual 
life,  which  are  unfolded  and  exercised  here  on  earth,  and 
which  then  will  be  all  in  all. 

The  great  facts  of  the  Divine  retribution  —  the  eternal 
bliss  into  which  the  righteous  are  drawn  up,  and  the  eternal 
woe  into  which  the  wicked  are  cast  down  —  are  too  plainly 
set  forth  to  be  the  subject  of  criticism.  These  central  and 
indisputable  facts  stand  unaffected  by  any  just  principles  of 
criticism.  The  images  of  uplifting  or  appalling  grandeur 
in  which  they  are  enveloped  cannot  act  too  powerfully  on 
the  imagination  and  the  heart  of  man.  The  obscurity  in 
Mdiich  the  particulars  of  our  future  being  are  left,  was  un- 
doubtedly intentional  on  the  part  of  our  Saviour.  For 
though  the  whole  matter  in  its  blissful  or  terrible  details 
may  have  been  disclosed  to  him,  he  knew  that  we,  in  our 
present  stage  of  existence,  could  not  comprehend  them,  and 
would  only  be  confounded  or  misled  by  any  language  in 
which  they  might  be  described.  We  cannot  understand, 
except  in  a  general  way,  that  which  in  all  its  particulars 
must  lie  so  far  beyond  all  our  experience  here. 

For  this  reason,  we  attempt  no  minute  definition  or 
analysis  of  the  precise  images  or  language  employed  in  this 
grand  and  awful  picture  of  the  retributions  of  eternity.  We 
take  no  notice  of  the  doctrine  of  a  first  and  a  second  resur- 
rection, which  some  commentators  think  they  find  intimated 


MATTHEW   XXV.    31-46.  437 

here.  And  we  should  gladly  avoid  all  other  disputed 
doctrines  involved  in  the  criticism,  were  it  not  for  the  disas- 
trous hold  which  some  of  them  have  taken  on  the  popular 
miud. 


The  General  Resurrection  and  Day  of  Judgment. 

Does  Jesus  here,  31-46,  teach  that  some  specific  day, 
separate  from  that  of  each  man's  death,  is  to  be  set  apart  for 
the  general  and  simultaneous  resurrection  and  judgment  of 
all  the  tribes  and  generations  of  men  ?  His  language  does 
not,  we  think,  require  any  such  interpretation.  In  the 
previous  parables  he  has  been  singling  out  individual  cases 
of  sudden  judgment.  But  lest  they  should  leave  upon  the 
mind  an  idea  of  a  partial  and  imperfect  retribution,  which 
some  men  might  escape,  he  here  in  one  awful  picture  repre- 
sents all  men  of  all  nations  and  times  as  standing  before 
him  to  undergo  the  searching  ordeal  which  in  the  previous 
parables  has  been  applied  to  individual  souls.  Nothing  is 
said  or  intimated  in  regard  to  a  resurrection  of  the  body,  or 
the  simultaneous  resun^ection  of  the  whole  race.  The 
meaning  of  the  language  is  :  Not  one,  or  a  few,  like  those 
already  specified,  shall  meet  the  Son  of  man  and  be  judged 
by  him  at  his  coming,  but  all  the  nations  and  generations  of 
men  shall  be  gathered  before  him  in  his  glory,  to  receive 
from  him  —  in  the  words  which  come  from  him  as  the 
great  essential  law  of  God's  kingdom  —  the  sentence  of  joy 
or  woe  which  awaits  them  as  they  enter  on  their  eternal 
state  of  being. 

It  will  not  do  to  bind  down  to  a  literal  exactness  language 
like  this,  intensified  with  emotion  and  abounding  in  the 
sublimest  figures  of  speech.  But  even  when  construed  in 
its  stricter  sense,  the  language  here  does  not  imply  what  is 
usually  understood  by  the  day  of  judgment.  Suppose  that 
every  soul,  when  its  earthly  course  is  ended  and  its  earthly 
garments  laid  aside,  goes  directly  into  the  presence  of  Christ 
37* 


438  MATTHEW   XXV.   31-46. 

and  his  angels,  to  be  judged  according  to  the  principles  of 
life  or  death  which  it  has  cherished  here,  and  which  are 
there  to  work  out  their  solemn  retributions.  In  this  individ- 
ual manifestation,  or  roming  of  Christ  to  each  individual 
soul,  is  it  not  strictly  true  that  "  all  the  nations  shall  be 
gathered  before  him  "  ?  As,  in  a  vast  military  review,  the 
armies  of  an  empire  pass,  company  by  company,  day  after 
day,  before  the  monarch,  each  battalion  as  it  comes  from  its 
neighboritig  barracks  or  distant  campaign,  till  all  at  length 
have  been  gathered  before  him,  so  in  this  grander  procession 
and  review  of  human  beings,  moment  by  moment,  hour  by 
hour,  year  after  year,  and  generation  after  generation,  each 
individual  soul  by  itself,  in  the  solemn  depths  of  its  own 
consciousness,  and  yet  all  in  one  ceaseless  succession  of 
companies,  pass  on,  till  at  last  all  the  nations  shall  be 
gathered  before  him,  and  separated  one  from  another,  as  a 
shepherd  divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats. 

When  we  say,  the  hour  will  come  when  all  who  are  on 
the  earth  must  die,  we  do  not  mean  that  all  shall  die  at  the 
same  hour.  So  when  it  is  said,  "  We  must  all  stand  before 
the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,"  or,  "  When  the  Son  of  man 

shall  come  in  his   glory, all  the  nations  shall  be 

gathered  before  him,"  it  is  not  implied  that  we  shall  all 
stand  before  him,  or  be  gathered  before  him  at  one  and  the 
same  moment.  As  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  in  mercy 
now  to  each  soul  is  whenever  that  soul  is  ready  to  receive 
him,  so  the  coming  of  Christ  in  judgment  to  each  one 
of  us  is  when  we  go  from  this  to  the  next  stage  of  our 
existence. 


MATTHEW   XXV.  439 


NOTES. 


Thex  shall  the  kingdom  of  heaven  be  likened  unto  ten  vir- 
gins, which  took  their  lamps,  and  went  forth  to  meet  the  bride- 

2  groom.     And  five  of  them  were  wise,  and  five  were  foolish. 

3  They  that  were  foolish  took  their  lamps,  and  took  no  oil  with 

4  them.     But  the  wise  took  oil  in  their  vessels  with  their  lamps. 

5  While  the  bridegroom  tarried,  they  all  slumbered  and  slept. 

6  And  at  midnight  there  was  a  cry  made,  Behold,  the  biide- 

7  groom  Cometh  ;  go  ye  out  to  meet  him.     Then  all  those  virgins 

8  arose,  and  trimmed  their  lamps.     And  the  foolish  said  unto  the 

9  wise.  Give  us  of  your  oil,  for  our  lamps  are  gone  out.  But 
the  wise  answered,  saying,  Not  so,  lest  there  be  not  enough 
for  us  and  you ;  but  go  ye  rather  to  them  that  sell,  and  buy  for 

10  yourselves.  And  while  they  went  to  buy,  the  bridegroom 
came,  and  they  that  were  ready  went  in  with  him  to  the  mar- 

11  riage  ;  and  the  door  was  shut.     Afterward  came  also  the  other 

12  virgins,  saying,  Lord,  Lord,  open  to  us.      But  he   answered 

13  and  said.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  I  know  you  not.  Watch, 
therefore,  for  ye  know  neither  the  day  nor  the  hour  wherein 

14  the  Son  of  man  cometh. For  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  as  a 


6.  And  at  midnight]     An  Ar-  as   if  in  the  very  words  of  Scrip- 

menian  wedding   is  tlius  described  ture.  Behold,  the  bridegroom  com- 

by  a  traveller  quoted  in  Livermore's  eth ;  go  ye  out  to  meet  him  !     All 

Commentary.     ''  The  large  number  the  persons  employed  now  lighted 

of  young  females  who  were  present  their  lamps,  and  ran  with  them  in 

natui-ally  i-eminded  me  of  the  wise  their  hands  to  fill  up  their  stations 

and  foolish  virgins  in  our  Saviour's  in   the   px-ocession ;    some   of  them 

parable.    These  being  friends  of  the  had  lost  their  lights  and  were  un- 

bride,   the  virgins^  her   companions,  prepared;  but  it  was  then  too  late  to 

(Ps.  xlv.  14,)  had  come  to  meet  the  seek  them,  and  the  cavalcade  moved 

hridegroom.      It    is    usual    for    the  forward  to  the  house  of  the  bride, 

bridegroom   to   come   at  midnight;  The  bridegroom  was  carried  in  the 

so  that  literally  at  midnight  the  cry  arms  of  a  friend,  and  placed  on  a 

is  made,  Behold,  the  bridegroom  com-  superb    seat   in   the   midst  of   the 

eth ;  go  ye  out  to  meet  him.     But  on  company,   where    he    sat    a    short 

this  occasion  the  bridegroom  tarried;  time,  and  then  went  into  the  house, 

it  w^as  two  o'clock   before  he  ar-  the  door  of  Avhich  was  immediately 

rived."                 8.  are  gone  out]  shut  and  guarded  by  Sepoys.      I 

rather,  are  going  oid.                       10.  and   others   expostulated    with   the 

And  the  door  was  shut]      The  door-keepers,  but  in  vain." 

following  account  of  a  Hindoo  wed-  14.  the  kingdom  of  heav- 

ding  by  Mr.   Ward  is  also    copied  en]     These  words  are  inserted  by 

from  yir.  Livermore.     "  After  wait-  our  translators  without  reason.     Je- 

ing  two  or  three  hours,  at  length,  sus  has  been  speaking  all  along  of 

near  midnight,  it  was  amioimced,  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man,  and 


440  MATTHEW    XXV. 

man  travelling  into  a  far  country,  who  called  his  own  serv^ants, 
and  delivered  unto  them  his  goods.    And  unto  one  he  gave  five  is 
talents,  to  another  two,  and  to  another  one ;  to  every  man  ac- 
cording to  his  several  ability ;  and  straightway  took  his  jour- 
ney.    Then  he  that  had  received  the  five  talents  went  and  i6 
traded  with  the  same,  and  made  them  other  five  talents.     And  n 
likewise  he  that  had  received  two,  he  also  gained  other  two. 
But  he  that  had  received  one  went  and  digged  in  the  earth,  is 
and  hid  his  lord's  money.     After  a  long  time,  the  lord  of  those  19 
servants  cometh  and  reckoneth  with  them.    And  so  he  that  had  20 
received  five  talents  came  and  brought  other  five  talents,  say- 
ing, Lord,  thou  deliveredst  unto  me  five  talents ;    behold,  1 
have  gained  beside  them  five  talents  more.     His  lord  said  unto  21 
him.  Well  done,  thou   good  and   faithful  servant ;   thou  hast 
been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make  thee  ruler  over 
many  things ;  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  lord.     He  also  22 
that  had  received  two  talents  came  and  said,  Lord,  thou  de- 
liveredst unto  me  two  talents ;  behold,  I  have  gained  two  other 
talents  beside  them.      His  lord  said  unto  him,  Well  done,  23 
good  and  faithful  servant ;  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few 
things,  I  will  make  thee  ruler  over  many  things ;  enter  thou 
into  the  joy  of  thy  lord.     Then  he  which  had  received  the  one  24 
talent  came  and  said.  Lord,  I  knew  thee  that  thou  art  an 
hard  man,  reaping  where  thou  hast  not  sown,  and  gathering 
where  thou  hast  not  strawed  ;  and  I  was  afraid,  and  went  and  25 
hid  thy  talent  in  the  earth :  lo,  there  thou  hast  that  is  thine. 


that  fact  is  the  one  still  to  be  illus-  the  end  of  life,  but  all  along,  that 
trated.  "  Watch,  therefore,  because  this  reckoning  is  made,  and  its 
ye  know  not  the  day  nor  the  hour:  tenns  enforced,  —  the  diligent  and 
for  it  is  as  a  man  travelling  into  a  faithful  furnished  Avith  larger  op- 
flir  coiintiy,"  &c.  15.  portunities,  the  sluggish  and  un- 
to every  man  according  to  his  ftiithful  deprived  of  Avhat  they  once 
several  ability]  =not  oppressing  had.  But  in  the  final  sumniiiig  up, 
the  servant  of  small  powers  with  we  shall  be  called  to  account  only 
opportunities  and  responsibilities  for  the  use  of  what  we  have  had. 
beyond  his  strength.  And  is  it  not  The  much  or  little,  if  only  faithfully 
so  with  us  all?  We  may  complain  used,  will  be  all  the  same  to  us 
of  the  naiTOAv  sphei-e, "  the  small  then.  24.  I  knew  thee 
opportunities,  granted  to  us;  but  if  that  thou  art  an  hard  man] 
we  have  the  ability  to  use  greater,  Here  the  real  character  of  the 
shall  we  not  find  them?  Our  fidel-  slothful  servant  comes  out.  And 
ity  and  skill  in  the  use  of  what  we  how  true  is  the  picture !  They  who 
have  to-day  Avill  prepare  us  for  neglect  the  means  of  success,  who 
greater  opportimities,  and  them  for  give  way  to  indolence  and  refuse 
us,  to-morrow.    It  is  not  merely  at  to  make  the  required  exertions,  are 


MATTHEW    XXV.  441 

2«  His  lord  answered  and  said  unto  him,  Thou  wicked  and  sloth- 
ful servant,  thou  knewest  that  I  reap  where  I  sowed  not,  and 

27  gather  where  I  have  not  strawed ;  thou  oughtest  therefore  to 
have  put  my  money  to  the  exchangers,  and  then  at  my  coming 

28  I  should  have  received  mine  own  with  usury.  Take  therefore 
the  talent  from  him,  and  give  it  unto  him  which  hath  ten  talents. 

29  For  unto  every  one  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have 
abundance ;  but  from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be  taken  away 

30  even  that  which  he  hath.  And  cast  ye  the  unprofitable  ser- 
vant into  outer  darkness  :  there  shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing 
of  teeth. 

31  When  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the 
hoi}-  angels  with  him,  then  shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his 

32  glory,  and  before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations ;  and  he 
shall  separate  them  one  from  another,  as  a  shepherd  divideth 

33  his  sheep  from  the  goats ;  and  he  shall  set  the  sheep  on  his 

34  right  hand,  but  the  goats  on  the  left.  Then  shall  the  King  say 
unto  them  on  his  right  hand.  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father, 
inherit  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of 

35  the  world.  For  I  was  an  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat ; 
I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  drink  ;  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye 

36  took  me  in  ;  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me ;  I  was  sick,  and  ye 

37  visited  me ;  I  was  in  prison,  and  ye  came  unto  me.     Then 

the  ones  who  complain  most  of  the  will  be  the  kins;dom  of  heaven, 
hardness  of  their  lot  and  of  the  con-  but  from  him  that  hath 
duct  of  God  towards  them.  not]  He  had  had  it;  but  yet,  as 
26.  thou  knewest  that  I  he  had  made  no  use  of  it,  it  was  as 
reap  Avhere  I  sowed  not]  The  if  he  had  it  not.  30.  into 
slothful  servant  is  answered  on  his  outer  darkness]  the  outer  dark- 
own  ground.  This  is  made  a  little  ness.  *  A  reference  again  to  the 
more  explicit  in  Luke  xix.  22:  feast  and  joy  within,  the  darkness 
"  Out  of  thine  own  mouth  will  I  and  sorrow  without.  33. 
judge  thee."  29.  unto  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Fa- 
every  one  that  hath  shall  be  ther,  inherit  the  king^dom 
given]  A  .  reat  law  of  our  nature,  prepared  for  you]  But  not,  41, 
filling  out  as  its  complement  the  ye  cursed  of  my  Father ;  the  curse 
other  law  announced  (v.  3,  6  ;  they  had  brought  upon  themselves. 
Luke  vi.  20,  21),  that  in  proportion  Neither  is  it,  41,  depart  into  eter- 
as  we  feel  our  Avant,  will  be  the  sup-  ual  fire  prepared  for  you,  but  pre- 
ply  that  is  granted.  To  him  that  pared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels, 
hath  the  disposition  and  the  ability  i.  e.  pi-epared,  in  the  very  nature  of 
to  use  will  be  given,  that  he  may  things,  for  what  is  evil  as  its  natural 
have  the  more  abundantly ;  and  at  fruit.  Not  a  punishment  purposely 
the  sarae  time  they  who  "feel  their  and  arbitrarily  prepared  by  God, 
wants,  and  in  lowliness  of  spirit  are  but  growing  as  a  necessary*  conse- 
hungering  and  thirsting  after  right-  quence  out  of  the  life  which  they 
eousuess,  will  be  filled,  and  theirs  had  lived,  and  the  characters  they 


442 


MATTHEAV    XXV. 


shall  the  righteous  answer  him,  saying,  Lord  when  saw  we 
thee  an  hungered,  and  fed  thee  ?  or  thirsty,  and  gave  thee 
drink  ?  when  saw  we  thee  a  stranger,  and  took  thee  in  V  or  38 
naked,  and  clothed  thee  ?    or  when  saw  we  thee  sick,  or  in  39 
prison,  and  came  unto  thee  ?     And  the  King  shall  answer  and  40 
say  unto  them,  Verily  I  say  unto  you.  Inasmuch  as  ye  have 
done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have 
done  it  unto  me.     Then  shall  he  say  also  unto  them  on  the  left  41 
hand.  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  pre- 
pared for  the  devil  and  his  angels.     For  I  was  an  hungered,  42 
and  ye  gave  me  no  meat ;  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  no 
drink ;  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  not  in ;  naked,  and  43 
ye  clothed  me  not ;  sick,  and  in  prison,  and  ye  visited  me  not. 
Then  shall  they  also  answer  him,  saying,  Lord,  when  saw  we  44 
thee  an  hungered,  or  athirst,  or  a  stranger,  or  naked,  or  sick, 
or  in  prison,  and  did  not  minister  unto  thee  ?     Then  shall  he  45 


had  formed.  41.  for  the 

devil  and.  his  angels]  We  have 
already  given  quite  as  much  space 
to  the  subject  of  demonology  as  its 
importance  demands,  and  would  re- 
fer the  reader  interested  in  such 
things  to  the  remarks  which  may 
be  fomid  in  chapters  iv.,  viii.,  and 
xiii.  The  expression  here  may  de- 
note a  personal  being  and  his  agents, 
or  it  may  be  used  only  as  a  personi- 
fication of  evil,  —  sin,  and  those  Avho 
are  employed  as  its  messengers  to 
disseminate  it.  Go  ye  into  the  sor- 
rows which  have  been  prepared  — 
not  for  you  —  but  for  sin  alid  its 
agents,  as  its  natural  and  necessary 
results,  hi  partaking  of  sin  you 
must  partake  also  of  the  bitter 
fruits  which  it  bears.  The  neces- 
sary and  awful  connection  between 
sin  and  son-ow,  so  that  those  who 
engage  in  the  fonuer  must  also  be 
involved  in  the  latter,  unless  they 
repent  and  leave  their  wickedness 
behind,  is  the  terrible  fact  which  is 
here  announced  as  a  part  of  the 
great  system  of  things.  The  doc- 
trine of  demons,  or  of  a  personal 
devil,  is  not  found  in  the  old  He- 
brew Scriptures;  though  the  word 
Satan,  an  adversary  or  enemy,  is 
sometimes    used,  as    in    Numbers 


xxii.  22;  1  Sam.  xxix.  4;  1  Kings 
xi.  14.  In  1  Chron.  xxi.  1  and 
Zech.  iii.  1,  2,  is  the  first  appear- 
ance in  the  Old  Testament  of  Satan 
as  the  evil  one,  and  both  these  writ- 
ings belong  probably  to  a  period 
not  antecedent  to  the  Babylonian 
captivity.  During  the  period  of 
more  than  five  centuries  which  in- 
tervened between  that  captivity  and 
the  birth  of  Christ,  the  minds  of  the 
Jews  became  imbued  with  the  idea 
of  demons  and  a  prince  of  demons, 
such  as  we  find  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Traces  of  these  notions  may 
be  found  in  some  of  the  apocry- 
phal writings,  but  the  fullest  devel- 
opment of  the  doctrine  is  seen  in  the 
Apocalypse  of  Enoch,  a  work  which 
belonged  to  that  period,  which  was 
known  and  quoted  from  by  some 
of  the  New  Testament  writers 
(2  Peter,  and  Jude  14),  but  which 
was  unknown  in  the  Christian 
Church  for  nearly  a  thousand 
years.  In  1773  Bnice  the  trav- 
eller brought  three  copies  of  it 
from  Abyssinia,  and  in  1821  a 
translation  of  it  into  English  was 
made  by  Richard  Laurence,  after- 
wards Archbishop  of  Cashel.  See 
Christian  Examiner  for  May,  1859, 
Art.  The  History  and  Doctrine  of 


MATTHEW    XXV. 


443 


answer  them,  saying,  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  inasmuch  as  ye 
46  did  it  not  to  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not  to  me.     And 
these   shall   go   away   into    everlasting   punishment ;    but   the 
riohteous  into  life  eternal. 


the  Devil.  46.  And 

these  shall  go  away  into 
everlasting  punishment;  but 
the  righteous  into  life  eter- 
nal] Everlasting  and  eternal.,  in 
this  verse  and  verse  41,  are  in 
Greek  the  same  word  aldiviov  (aio- 
nion).  For  its  meaning,  see  note, 
xii.  32.  It  relates  to  the  condition, 
for  good  or  for  evil,  in  which  we 
are  when  we  pass  from  this  to  the 
next  stage  of  our  existence.  As 
our  earthly  or  mortal  life  relates  to 
our  external  mode  of  being  here,  so 
our  eternal  life  or  eternal  punish- 
ment relates  to  the  spiritual  quali- 
ties which,  beginning  here,  shall 
abide  with  us  hereafter,  and  bear 
in  us  the  fruits  of  righteousness  or 
sin,  which  belong  to  our  condition 
there,  i.  e.  to  our  eternal  {aionion) 
condition.  It  relates  rather  to  the 
nature  than  the  duration  of  the  con- 
dition in  which  we  may  be  placed. 
The  eternal  life  here  begun  shall 
enfold  the  righteous  in  the  splen- 
dors of  its  bliss,  and  the  eternal 
death  or  punishment  shall  envelop 
the  ungodly  in  its  ghastly  shadows 
of  sin  and  shame.  "  I'he  same 
word,  al(i)viov,  eternal,  is  applied 
to  the  punishment  of  the  bad  and  the 
happiness  of  the  good,  and  it  refers 
not  at  all  to  duration  in  months  and 
years.  It  means,  rather,  those  op- 
posite states  of  mind  from  which 
the  idea  of  time  and  all  its  contin- 


gencies has  been  completely  elimi- 
nated; one  lifted  up  into  the  eter- 
nal glories,  the  other  depressed  into 
the  shadows  of  eternal  gloom.  It  is 
a  happiness  or  disorder,  transfused 
not  from  this  world,  but  from  anoth- 
er, and  which,  therefore,  survives 
temporal  duration  and  mortal  disso- 
lution, and  exists  in  sharper  con- 
trasts than  ever,  after  the  fashions 
of  this  Avorld  have  passed  away." 
Foregleams  of  Immortality,  pp.  129, 
130.  Bengel  in  his  note  on  this  pas- 
sage says,  "  Eternal  signifies  that 
Avhich  reaches  and  passes  the  limits 
of  earthly  tiine.^''  So  in  his  note  on 
Rom.  xvi.  25,  "  since  the  icorld  began, 
Xpovois  alcoviois,  [during  the  eter- 
nal ages,]  from  the  time  when  not 
only  men,  but  even  angels,  were 
created.  The  times  are  denoted, 
which  with  their  first  commence- 
ment as  it  were  touch  upon  the 
previous  eternity,  and  are,  so  to 
speak,  mixed  with  it;  not  eternit}^ 
itself,  of  which  times  are  only  the 
streams;  for  the  phrase.  Before  eter- 
nal ages  (English  version,  Before 
the  ivorld  began)  is  used  at  2  Tiin.  1, 
9;    Ps.  Ixxvii.  5  (Ixxvi.  6.)" 

punishment]  /coXao-ts,  pun- 
ishment, not  Tificopla.,  vengeance; 
*'  for  punishment  is  inflicted  for  the 
sake  of  him  who  suffers ;  vengeance, 
for  the  satisfaction  of  him  who  in- 
flicts it."     Bengel. 


444  MATTHEW    XXVI.    1  -  17. 


CHAPTER    XXYI. 

1-17.     The  Supper  at  Bethany.  —  Judas. 

1-2.  It  was  now  (see  introduction  to  chap,  xxi.)  late  on 
Tuesday  evening,  which,  according  to  the  Jewish  method  ot 
reckoning,  was  the  beginning  of  Wednesday.  The  expres- 
sion "after  two  days  is  the  Passover*'  would  place  that 
event  on  Thursday.  3-5.  Here  the  scene  changes,  and  the 
writer  recurs  to  deliberations  previously  held  by  the  chief 
priests  and  elders  in  regard  to  the  best  way  of  getting  Jesus 
into  their  hands  by  subtlety  or  deceit,  and  putting  him  to 
death.  They  had  concluded  that  it  would  not  be  expedient 
to  do  this  during  the  festival.  6-13.  The  writer  then, 
without  explicitly  stating  his  object,  proceeds  to  show  how 
their  purpose  came  to  be  altered  by  the  proposal  of  Judas  to 
put  Jesus  into  their  hands.  And  in  oixler  to  give  what 
stood  in  his  own  mind  as  the  immediate  occasion  of  the 
traitor's  proposal,  he  goes  back  four  days  (John  xii.  1),  and 
gives  an  account  of  a  supper  at  Bethany,  where  an  event 
had  occurred  which,  with  the  comment  of  Jesus  upon  it, 
exasperated  Judas,  and  hastened  him  on  in  his  work  of 
treachery.  The  passage  is  worthy  of  remark,  as  showing 
how,  in  the  narrative  of  an  unpractised  writer  like  Matthew, 
the  true  order  of  events  is  departed  from  without  notice  being 
given,  and  how  the  object  which  is  foremost  in  the  mind  of 
the  writer  may  be  left  so  obscurely  indicated  by  his  words, 
that  we  can  discover  what  it  is  only  by  comparing  his  narra- 
tive with  that  which  has  come  to  us  from  another  source. 
No  mention  is  made  of  Judas  in  the  account  of  the  supper 
by  Matthew,  but  at  the  close  of  the  account  he  says,  14-16, 
"  Then  one  of  the  twelve,  called  Judas  Iscariot,  went  unto  the 


MATTHEW   XXVI.    17-29.  445 

chief  priests,"  as  if  his  going  were  in  some  way  dependent 
on  what  had  just  been  described.  John,  on  the  other  hand, 
in  his  more  precise  and  circumstantial  detail  of  events  (xii. 
1  -8),  singles  out  Judas  as  the  one  most  prominent  in  com- 
plaining of  the  waste.  Judas,  therefore,  must  have  been  the 
one  who  was  most  excited  by  the  indignation  which  Matthew 
mentions,  and  who  would  feel  most  keenly  the  rebuke  implied 
in  the  language  of  Jesus.  Indignant,  therefore,  and  exas- 
perated, he  sought  an  interview  with  the  chief  priests.  The 
same  avaricious  spirit  which  had  caused  his  indignation  at 
the  sujDper  manifests  itself  in  the  offer  which  he  made  to  the 
priests.  "  This  might  have  been  sold  for  two  hundred 
pence,"  were  his  words  when  he  saw  the  precious  ointment 
poured  upon  the  head  and  feet  of  Jesus ;  and  now  his  ques- 
tion is,  "  What  will  you  give  me  if  I  will  give  him  up  to 
you  ?  "  There  is  no  formal  connection  between  these  two 
expressions  in  Matthew.  He  does  not  even  tell  us  that  the 
questions  were  both  put  by  the  same  man.  It  is  only  by  the 
help  of  John's  Gospel  that  we  discover  this,  and  by  his  aid 
we  see,  not  only  how  perfectly  the  two  narratives,  apparently 
different,  harmonize  with  each  other,  but  how  important  in 
its  place  the  apparently  irrelevant  account  of  the  supper  at 
Bethany  is  in  the  Gospel  before  us.  Where  a  man's  mind 
is  full  of  a  subject,  and  he  sees  as  an  actual  witness  the 
relation  of  all  its  parts  to  one  another,  he  i3*rery  apt  to 
state  facts  as  they  lie  in  his  mind  in  their  true  relation  to  one 
another,  but  without  the  explanatory  clauses  which  a  reader 
not  conversant  with  the  facts  needs  in  order  to  understand 
their  connection,  and  which  a  writer  not  personally  familiar 
with  the  facts  would  hardly  fail  to  put  in. 

17-29.  The  Last  Supper. 

17-19.  The   writer  now  returns  to  Jesus.     It  was  the 
first  day  of  unleavened  bread  when  the  disciples  asked  Jesus 
where  they  should  prepare  the  Passover.     There  is  nothing 
38 


446  MATTHEW   XXVI.    17-29. 

miraculous  implied  in  the  narrative.  All  the  houses  in 
Jerusalem  were  open  at  that  time  for  guests.  Jesus  may 
previously  have  spoken  to  some  one  in  the  city  who  was 
friendly  to  him,  and  engaged  a  chamber  in  his  house.  And 
now  he  tells  two  of  his  disciples  (Mark  xiv.  13),  viz.  Peter 
and  John  (Luke  xxii.  8),  go  to  such  a  one,  probably  men- 
tioning his  name,  and  say  to  him,  "  The  teacher  "  —  the  title 
by  which  Jesus  was  best  known  to  his  followers  — "  saith. 
My  time  is  near  for  me  to  keep  the  Passover  with  my  disci- 
ples at  thy  house."  Jesus  probably  sent  Peter  and  John 
privately,  so  that  the  other  disciples  did  not  know  the  place 
until  they  had  assembled  there  to  eat  the  Passover.  A  rea- 
son for  this  may  have  been,  that  Judas  might  not  know  be- 
forehand whither  to  bring  those  to  whom  he  intended  to 
betray  him,  and  that  Jesus  might  have  a  few  last  hours 
with  his  disciples  entirely  undisturbed. 

21-29.  Nothing  could  be  more  simple  or  more  touchingly 
beautiful  than  the  account  which  the  Evangelists  have  given 
of  the  Last  Supper.  The  chamber  had  been  prepared. 
Jesus  and  his  twelve  disciples  were  there,  reclining  at  the 
table.  While  they  were  eating,  Jesus  was  troubled  in  spirit, 
and  said,  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  one  of  you  shall 
betray  me."  And  they  were  exceeding  sorrowful,  and 
looked  at  one  another,  not  knowing  who  it  might  be.  But 
each  one,  being  more  ready  to  suspect  himself  than  either  of 
his  associates,  began  separately  and  perhaps  privately  to 
ask,  "  Lord,  is  it  I  ? "  And  he  replied,  but  in  such  a  way 
that  Judas  could  not  hear  him,  "  He  that  dippeth  his  hand 
with  me  in  the  dish,  the  same  shall  betray  me.  The  Son  of 
man  goeth,  as  it  is  written  of  him ;  but  woe  to  that  man  by 
whom  the  Son  of  man  is  betrayed !  It  had  been  good  for 
that  man  if  he  had  not  been  born."  Judas,  recovering 
somewhat  from  the  confusion  occasioned  by  the  announce- 
ment of  Jesus  that  one  of  them  should  betray  him,  and 
supposing  that  he  might  be  suspected  by  his  associates  unless 
he  should  put  the  question  which  they  had  put,  now  the  last 


MATTHEW   XXVI.    17-29.  447 

of  them  all,  asked,  "  Rabbi,  is  it  I  ? "  His  guilty  heart 
caused  his  tongue  to  stumble  in  its  words,  and  instead  of  the 
hearty,  loving  reverence  implied  in  the  address,  Lord,  is  it 
I  ?  his  treacherous  purpose  half  revealed  itself  in  the  term 
which  he  used,  —  Rabbi,  which  is  not,  like  Rabboni,  expres- 
sive of  the  highest  honor  and  reverence.  The  very  word 
that  Judas  uttered  so  fixed  itself  in  the  minds  of  the  disciples, 
that  in  Matthew,  though  his  Gospel  comes  to  us  in  another 
language,  the  Hebrew  word  is  retained.  "  Rabbi,"  he  asked, 
"  is  it  I  ?  "  Jesus  answered,  "  Thou  hast  said,"  i.  e.  It  is 
even  as  thou  hast  said.  Soon  aft^r  this,  when  the  others 
had  received  from  Jesus  the  sign  who  it  was  that  should 
betray  him,  Judas  (John  xiii.  30,  31)  probably  withdrew, 
and  Jesus,  relieved  from  the  pressure  caused  by  his  presence, 
exclaimed,  "  Now  is  the  Son  of  man  glorified." 

Then  followed  the  institution  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  The 
Passover  had  been  eaten.  But  while  they  were  yet  at  the 
table,  Jesus  took  bread,  and  having  blessed  and  broken  it, 
he  gave  it  to  his  disciples,  saying,  "  Take,  eat,  this  is  my 
body,  given  [Luke  xxii.  19]  for  you;  this  do  in  remem- 
brance of  me."  "  It  was  a  round  cake  of  unleavened 
bread  which  the  Lord  broke  and  divided ;  signifying  therer 
by  both  the  breaking  of  his  body  on  the  cross,  and  the  par- 
ticipation in  the  benefits  of  his  death  by  all  his."  Alford. 
What  could  be  the  meaning  of  the  clause,  this  do  in  remem- 
brance of  me,  unless  it  was  intended  that  the  Supper  should 
be  observed  as  a  lasting  memorial  of  himself?  The  bread 
thus  broken  is  to  us  an  emblem  of  the  broken  body  of 
Christ,  and  his  body  expresses  to  us  the  truth,  —  the  bread 
from  heaven  which  he  came  to  impart  to  man,  —  the  words 
of  his  which  are  spirit  and  life  (John  vi.  63),  loaded  down 
as  they  are  with  the  divine  fulness  of  meaning  and  of 
redemptive  power  which  is  given  to  them  by  his  whole 
"manifestation  in  the  flesh."  In  this  sense,  our  spiritual 
being  is.  upheld  "by  the  inward  and  spiritual  process  of 
feeding  upon  him  by  faith ;  of  making  that  body  our  own, 


448  MATTHEW    XXVI.    17-29. 

causing  it  to  pass  into  and  nourish  our  souls,  even  as  the 
substance  of  the  bread  passes  into  and  nourishes  our  bodies. 
Of  this  feeding  upon  Christ  in  the  spirit  by  faith  is  the 
sacramental  bread  the  symbol  to  us."  "  The  commemoration 
is  of  him,  in  so  far  as  he  has  come  down  into  time,  and 
enacted  the  great  acts  of  redemption  on  this  our  world,  — 
and  sho\vn  himself  to  us  as  living  and  speaking  man,  an 
object  of  our  personal  love  and  affectionate  remembrance;  — 
but  the  other  and  higher  parts  of  the  sacrament  have  regard 
to  the  results  of  these  same  acts  of  redemption,  as  they  are 
eternized  in  the  counsels  of  the  Father."     Alford. 

And  he  took  the  cup,  and  gave  thanks,  and  gave  it  to 
them,  saying,  "  Drink  ye  all  of  it ;  for  this  is  my  blood  of 
the  new  testament,  which  is  shed  for  many  for  the  remission 
of  sins."  As  the  bread  is  an  emblem  of  the  body  of  Christ, 
and  that  an  emblem  of  the  divine  truth  which  came  through 
him  into  the  world  to  feed  and  sustain  the  souls  of  men,  so 
is  the  wine  an  emblem  of  his  blood  shed  for  many  for  the 
remission  of  sins,  and  his  blood  thus  shed  for  sinful  men  is 
an  emblem  of  the  divine  love  manifested  in  him  for  the 
redemption  of  the  world.  As  in  partaking  of  the  wine  we 
rise  through  the  symbol  into  that  which  it  symbolizes,  w^e 
receive  into  our  souls  the  love  of  Christ,  and  are  thus  made 
partakers  of  his  spirit.  This  it  is  in  its  highest  spiritual 
sense  to  partake  of  the  blood  of  Christ.  The  cup  of  blessing 
thus  received  in  faith,  "  is  it  not  the  communion  of  the  blood 
of  Christ  ?  "  "  Let  us  recur  to  the  paschal  rite.  Tlie  lamb 
being  killed,  the  blood  (Ex.  xxiv.  8)  is  sprinkled  on  the 
door-posts,  and  is  a  sign  to  the  destroying  angel  to  spare  the 
house.  The  blood  of  the  covenant  is  the  blood  of  the  lamb. 
So  also  in  the  new  covenant.  The  blood  of  the  Lamb  of 
God,  slain  for  us,  being  not  only  sprinkled  on,  but  actually 
partaken  spiritually  and  assimilated  by  the  faithful  soul,  is 
the  blood  of  the  new^  covenant,  and  the  sacramental  cup  is, 
signifies,  sets  forth,  this  covenant  in  his  blood,  i.  e.  consist- 
ing in  a  participation  in  his  blood."     Alford. 


MATTHEW    XXVI.    31  -  35.  449 

29.  "  But  I  say  unto  you,  that  I  shall  not  drink  henceforth 
of  this  fruit  of  the  vine,  until  that  day  when  I  drink  it  new 
with  you  in  my  Father's  kingdom."  Here  the  fruit  of  the 
vine  (see  note)  is  used  in  its  higher  and  spiritual  signification. 
"  The  Lord's  Supper  points  not  only  to  the  past,  but  to  the 
future  also.  It  has  not  only  a  commemorative,  but  also  a 
prophetic  meaning.  In  it  we  have  not  only  to  show  forth 
the  Lord's  death  till  he  come,  but  we  have  also  to  think  of 
the  time  when  he  shall  come  to  celebrate  his  holy  supper 
with  his  own,  new,  in  his  kingdom  of  glory.  Every  cele- 
bration of  the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  foretaste  and  prophetic 
anticipation  of  the  great  Marriage  Supper  which  is  pre- 
pared for  the  Church  at  the  second  appearing  of  Christ." 
Thiersch. 


31-35.     Warning  Peter. 

31-35.  Probably  the  discourses  and  prayer  recorded  by 
John  (xiv. -xvii.)  were  spoken  after  the  paschal  psalm  or 
hymn,  and  before  they  left  the  city.  They  were  certainly 
spoken  (John  xviii.  1)  before  the  party  had  crossed  the 
Kedron.  From  Luke  xxii.  31-34,  and  John  xiii.  36-38, 
it  would  seem  as  if  some  warning,  31,  had  been  previously 
given,  perhaps  more  than  once,  and  with  a  more  direct  and 
exclusive  application  to  Peter.  It  may  be  that  they  are 
only  different  accounts  of  the  same  conversation,  each 
writer  retaining  or  omitting  the  parts  Avhich  made  the 
strongest  impression  on  his  mind,  and  using  the  words  as 
they  remained  in  his  memory.  The  different  topics,  how- 
ever, which  are  introduced,  especially  in  Luke  as  compared 
with  Matthew  and  Mark,  seem  to  us  to  indicate  different 
occasions.  And  if  Peter  had  been  thus  warned  once  or 
twice  before,  it  will  account  for  the  eagerness  with  which  he 
here  repels  from  himself,  33,  the  charge  which  is  made,  31, 
equally  against  all  the  eleven. 

38*  CC 


450  MATTHEW     XXVI.    36-46. 


36-46.  —  The  Agony  of  Gethsemane. 

The  external  facts  here  narrated  are  easily  understood. 
After  the  supper,  late  in  the  evening,  Jesus  with  the  eleven 
went  out  of  Jerusalem  across  the  brook  Kedron  to  Gethsem- 
ane, a  place  which  lay  a  little  way  up  on  the  Mount 
of  Olives,  in  sight  of  the  eastern  wall  of  Jerusalem.  It  is 
supposed  that  there  may  have  been  a  house  there,  in  which 
the  eight  disciples  remained  (for  the  night  was  cold),  while 
Jesus,  with  Peter  and  James  and  John,  went  to  a  more 
retired  part  of  the  grounds.  There,  as  the  "  agony,"  the 
struggle,  as  St.  Luke  calls  it,  came  upon  him,  he  said  to 
them,  "  My  soul  is  exceedingly  sorrowful,  even  unto  death ; 
tarry  ye  here  and  watch  with  me."  He  yearned  for  their 
sympathy.  He  loved  to  have  them  near,  though  in  the 
depth  of  his  agony  he  wished  also  to  be  apart  from  them. 
He  went,  therefore,  about  a  stone's  throw  from  them  (Luke 
xxii,  41),  and,  kneeling,  fell  on  his  face,  and  prayed,  saying, 
"  0  my  Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me ! 
nevertheless,  not  as  I  will,  but  as  thou  wilt."  After  remain- 
ing thus  for  a  season,  he  came  back  to  the  three  disciples, 
and  finding  them  asleep,  he  said,  "What!  could  ye  not 
watch  with  me  one  hour  ?  Watch  and  pray,  that  ye  enter 
not  into  temptation:  the  spirit  indeed  is  willing,  but  the 
flesh  is  weak."  He  went  away  a  second  time,  and  prayed, 
saying,  "  O  my  Father,  if  this  cup  may  not  pass  away  from 
me,  except  I  drink  it,  thy  will  be  done."  The  altered  form 
of  the  prayer  shows  that  the  sharpness  of  the  struggle  was 
over.  He  came  to  his  disciples  again,  and  finding  them 
asleep,  he  went  away  the  third  time,  and  prayed,  using  the 
same  words.  Several  hours  may  thus  have  been  passed  by 
him  in  Gethsemane.  When  he  returned  the  third  time  to 
his  disciples,  he  found  them  asleep.  Grief  (Luke  xxii. 
45)  had  overcome  them.  "  Sleep  on  now,  and  take  your 
rest,"  he   said.      A  short  interval   of  time   now   probably 


MATTEHW    XXVI.    36-46.  451 

elapsed,  while  the  disciples  continued  sleeping,  when  Jesus 
saw,  as  he  might  from  that  spot  in  the  moonlight,  Judas,  and 
the  crowd  who  were  with  him,  coming  through  one  of  the 
eastern  gates  of  the  city.  Then  he  roused  his  disciples,  and 
said,  "  Behold,  the  hour  is  near,  and  the  Son  of  man  is  be- 
trayed into  the  hands  of  sinners.  Eise,  let  us  go :  behold,  he 
is  near  who  doth  betray  me." 

The  narrative  here  is  a  plain  one.  It  is  a  condensed 
statement  of  the  prominent  facts,  which  probably  took  up 
several  hours,  viz.  from  nine  or  ten  in  the  evening  till 
somewhere  from  twelve  to  two  in  the  morning.  It  is  ob- 
jected that  the  disciples,  being  asleep,  could  not  have  heard 
what  Jesus  said  in  his  prayer.  But  they  were  awake  each 
time  when  he  left  them,  and  may  each  time  have  heard  the 
first  piercing  words  of  his  prayer,  and  then  have  fallen 
asleep  while  he  still  lay  upon  his  face  in  agony.  The  dis- 
tance, a  stone's  throw,  would  not  prevent  their  hearing  the 
words  which  were  forced  from  him  in  his  anguish. 

But  how  shall  we  account  for  the  intensity  of  his  suffer- 
ings ?  Luther  supposes  that  the  physical  pangs,  and  conse- 
quently the  dread  of  death,  were  greatly  aggravated  in  his 
case.  "  We  men,"  he  says,  "  conceived  and  born  in  sin, 
have  an  impure,  hard  flesh,  which  does  not  soon  feel.  The 
fresher  and  sounder  the  man  is,  the  finer  the  skin,  and  the 
purer  the  blood,  so  much  the  more  does  he  feel,  and  is  sus- 
ceptible of  what  befalls  him.  Now,  since  Christ's  body  was 
pure  and  sinless,  whilst  ours  is  impure,  we  therefore 
scarcely  feel  the  terrors  of  death  in  one  fifth  of  the  degree 
in  which  Christ  felt  them.  Since  he  was  to  be  the  greatest 
martyr,  he  therefore  had  to  suffer  death's  extremest  terrors." 
This  may  be  true  of  the  susceptibility  to  merely  physical 
suffering.  The  exquisite  physical  organization  of  a  perfect 
man  may  have  the  most  acute  sensibility  to  pain,  as  well  as  to 
enjoyment.  But  beyond  its  physical  sufferings,  we  cannot 
conceive  of  death  as  having  any  terrors  for  Jesus.  We 
have  seen  how  he  looked  through  it,  and  regarded  it  only  as 


452  MATTHEW    XXVI.     36-46. 

a  sleep,  an  incident  or  change  in  the  mode  of  living,  —  an 
entrance,  through  momentary  pangs  perhaps,  into  the  heav- 
enly and  immortal  life.  The  dread  of  death,  therefore, 
could  not  of  itself  have  been  that  which  so  weighed  down 
and  oppressed  his  soul  in  Gethsemane. 

How,  then,  can  we  account  for  the  agony  which  the  Evan- 
gelists have  described  in  language  so  remarkable  ?  First, 
there  may  have  been  the  exquisitely  sensitive  physical  or- 
ganization mentioned  by  Luther.  All  its  natural  suscepti- 
bilities would  be  increased,  and  its  powers  of  endurance 
weakened,  by  the  exciting  and  exhausting  scenes  through 
which  he  had  been  passing.  After  the  excitement  of  some 
extraordinary  effort  is  gone  by,  in  the  physical  and  mental 
prostration  that  succeeds,  when  the  nerves  are  as  it  were 
unsheathed  and  laid  open  to  every  painful  sensation,  the 
soul  itself  is  more  than  at  any  other  time  exposed  to  depress- 
ing and  disheartening  thoughts.  Painful  and  discouraging 
views  throng  before  it,  and  shut  out  the  light  which  might 
come  from  other  quarters.  It  was  so  with  Jesus  at  Geth- 
semane. In  the  extreme  physical  exhaustion  and  the  con- 
sequent nervous  sensibility  and  depression  of  those  hours  of 
agony,  his  mind  was  in  a  state  to  look  only  on  the  dark  side 
of  his  mission.  Not  the  glorious  line  of  apostles,  martyrs, 
saints,  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord,  an  innumerable  com- 
pany who  shall  owe  their  salvation  to  him,  rose  in  vision 
before  him ;  but  the  unthankfulness  and  hatred  of  those  for 
whom  he  was  about  to  die,  the  scorn  and  bitterness  with 
which  they  would  reject  his  offers,  the  cruelties  to  be  en- 
dured by  his  followers,  the  long  centuries  through  which 
they  would  be  struggling  with  the  world  and  its  powers  of 
evil.  The  treachery,  desertion,  and  denial  which  he  was  to 
experience  among  his  chosen  friends,  the  cross,  the  bodily 
anjiuish,  the  howls  of  anger  and  derision  with  which  his 
sufferings  would  be  mocked  and  insulted  by  those  for  whom 
his  keenest  agonies  were  borne,  the  overshadowing  dark- 
ness, the  ensuing  ages  of  sin  and  misery,  which  might  be 


MATTHEW    XXVI.    36-46.  453 

removed  if  men  only  would  come  to  liim,  —  all  these  lay 
with  their  intolerable  weight  upon  his  soul,  making  it  ex- 
ceeding sorrowful,  even  unto  death.  And  thfs  intolerable 
anguish,  this  bitterness  and  darkness,  worse  than  of  death, 
which  was  then  pressing  upon  him  and  shutting  out  all 
light  and  hope,  this  was  the  cup  which  he  could  not  think  of 
without  agony,  and  concerning  which  he  prayed  that,  if  it 
were  possible,  it  might  pass  from  him. 

How  strong  his  yearning  for  human  sympathy  was  is  in- 
dicated by  his  touching  appeal  to  his  disciples,  ver.  38, 
"My soul  is  exceeding  sorrowful,  even  unto  death;  stay  here 
and  watch  with  me"  And  how  keenly  he  felt  the  want  of 
sympathy  is  shown  by  the  exclamation  when  he  returned 
and  found  them  sleeping :  "  Were  ye  so  entirely  unable  to 
watch  with  me  for  a  single  hour !  "  They  who  have  gone 
through  some  terrible  grief  knoAv  how,  for  the  time,  all  their 
painful  susceptibilities  were  aggravated  and  inflamed,  so 
that  every  little  act  of  apparent  neglect  or  thoughtlessness 
on  the  part  of  their  friends  was  like  vitriol  poured  into  a 
deep  and  angry  wound.  Now  if  we  consider  that  the  sensi- 
bilities and  sympathetic  emotions  of  our  Saviour,  in  delicacy, 
intensity,  and  extent,  went  as  far  as  his  other  faculties  be- 
yond all  that  men  have  ever  known,  and  that  not  only  the 
unworthiness  of  those  who  were  near,  but  the  sins  and  cru- 
elties, the  infidelity  and  indifference  of  coming  generations, 
were  brought  before  his  prophetic  vision,  to  smite  upon  the 
soul  that  was  pouring  itself  out  in  agony  for  a  deliverance 
which  they  would  not  accept,  we  may  have  some  inadequate 
idea  of  the  causes  of  the  unutterable  anguish  which  op- 
pressed and  overpowered  him  beneath  the  shadows  of  Geth- 
semane.  A  mother  may  be  made  to  suffer  an  agony  worse 
than  death,  through  her  love  and  sympathy  for  an  unworthy 
child.  Every  sin  of  his,  every  act  of  ingratitude,  every  new 
sign  of  increasing  depravity  in  him,  smites  on  her  heart; 
and  the  more  intense  her  love  and  sympathy  for  him,  the 
more  terrible  the  suffering  which  it  is  in  his  power  to  inflict. 


454  MATTHEW    XXVI.    36-46. 

What  she  feels  for  her  child,  Christ  felt  still  more  intensely 
for  each  one  of  the  thousands  who,  in  rejecting  him,  were 
sinning  against  God  and  their  own  souls.  What  she  with 
limited  powers  endures  for  one,  he,  with  his  finer  sensibilities, 
his  deeper  love,  his  enlarged  sympathies  and  comprehensive 
insight,  may  have  suffered  an  hundred-fold  from  every  one  of 
those  whose  salvation  he  was  longing  and  struggling  to  se- 
cure. As  she  in  the  intensity  of  her  love  and  sympathy 
bears  in  her  own  breast  the  sins  and  sorrows  of  her  ruined 
child,  so  he  in  Gethsemane,  and  on  the  cross,  bore  in  his 
own  body  the  sins  and  sorrows  of  a  lost  world.  And  thus 
the  words  of  the  prophet  were  fulfilled  in  him :  "  He  hatli 
borne  our  griefs  and  carried  our  sorrows,  and  we  esteemed 
him  stricken  from  above,  smitten  of  God,  and  afflicted.  But 
he  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  he  was  bruised  fo^ 
our  iniquities,  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  him ; 
and  with  his  stripes  are  we  healed.  All  we  like  sheep  have 
gone  astray ;  we  have  turned  every  one  to  his  own  way ; 
and  the  Lord  hath  laid  on  him  the  iniquity  of  us  all."  (Isa. 
liii.  4-6.)  When,  through  his  love  and  sympathy  for  man, 
this  dreadful  weight  of  sin  and  pain  was  laid  upon  him,  and 
only  the  dark  and  awful  side  of  his  ministry  to  a  sinful 
Avorld  was  open  to  him,  for  a  little  while  he  sunk  beneath 
the  burden,  and  in  agony  of  soul  cried  out,  "  O  Father,"  — 
not,  O  my  Father,  —  "  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from 
me."  When  he  prayed  again,  the  intensity  of  the  struggle 
had  abated  :  "  O  my  Father,  if  this  cup  may  not  pass  away 
from  me,  except  I  drink  it,  thy  will  be  done."  A  thiixi  time 
he  prayed:  it  was  in  the  same  words;  the  darkness  had 
gone ;  he  "  was  heard  in  that  he  feared."  (Heb.  v.  7.)  He 
had  prayed  to  be  delivered  from  the  intolerable  anguish 
that  overpowered  him,  and  while  he  prayed  it  was  removed. 
In  submitting  himself  to  drink  the  cup,  it  had  passed  from 
him.  And  how  often,  when  in  an  agony  of  prayer  we  strive 
to  bring  ourselves  into  the  fitting  frame  to  endure,  by  this 
very  act  of  submission  the  cup  is  emptied  of  its  bitterness, 


MATTHEW    XXVI.    36-46.  455 

and  the  anguish  which  had  seemed  to  us  so  dreadful  in  its 
approach  has  already  passed  away ! 

The  intensity  of  our  Saviour's  sufferings  in  consequence 
of  the  greatness  of  his  endowments  is  a  subject  which  can- 
not be  comprehended  by  us  in  all  its  length  and  breadth, 
and  depth  and  height,  any  more  than  we  can  comprehend 
the  full  extent  of  his  thought  or  emotion  in  any  other  direc- 
tion. But  what  we  learn  here  is  in  harmony  with  all  that 
we  know  of  him.  Every  part  of  his  nature  is  on  the  same 
grand  scale.  The  miracles  vdiich  he  wrought  no  more  de- 
cisively indicate  the  possession  of  powers  over  material 
nature  beyond  what  other  men  possess,  than  the  truths 
which  his  words  open  to  us,  and  the  life  which  he  lived, 
show  the  possession  of  powers  of  thought,  spiritual  per- 
ceptions, and  moral  energies  beyond  what  has  ever  been 
revealed  to  us  in  the  history  of  man.  And  here  we  find 
him  exhibiting  a  sensibility  to  suffering  on  the  same  vast 
scale ;  and  the  agony  of  Gethsemane,  in  its  mysterious  and 
terrible  severity,  has  awed  and  subdued  the  world,  as  a 
deeper  and  more  affecting  expression  of  the  same  greatness 
which  reveals  itself  in  his  other  acts  and  words. 

But  is  there  not  a  deeper  meaning  than  this  in  his  suffer- 
ings ?  May  not  these  sufferings  have  been  aggravated  by 
the  assaults  of  evil  spirits  ?  As,  in  the  Transfiguration,  the 
splendors  which  shone  around  him  were  from  a  world  be- 
yond the  reach  of  our  mortal  senses,  so  may  it  not  be  now, 
in  his  humiliation  and  agony,  that  the  cause  of  his  severest 
agony  lay  beyond  the  limits  of  this  mortal  hfe  ? 

Since  the  consequences  of  his  victory  over  death  and 
sin  reach  on  into  unseen  worlds,  and  have  their  fullest  con- 
summation there,  may  it  not  be  that  the  conflict,  as,  e.  g., 
in  the  wilderness  and  Gethsemane,  may  have  been  aggra- 
vated by  the  action  of  invisible  and  spiritual  agencies? 
Apprehending  the  influence  of  his  victorious  death  in  over- 
throwing and  subduing  their  kingdom,  may  they  not  have 
rallied  their  forces  for  a  last  terrible  conflict  with  him  ?    We 


456  MATTHEW   XXVI.    36-46. 

know  so  little  in  regard  to  the  whole  realm  of  unseen  spirit- 
ual agencies,  especially  on  the  side  of  what  is  eyil,  that  it 
becomes  us  to  approach  the  subject  with  diffidence.  So  far 
as  relates  to  the  passage  before  us,  there  is  no  expression 
used  by  Jesus  which  imj^lies  the  presence  of  any  such  influ- 
ence. What  we  have  said  of  his  sensibility  to  suffering, 
through  the  exquisite  texture  of  his  physical  and  emotional  or- 
ganization, and  his  unbounded  love  and  sympathy  for  man, 
may  be  sufficient  to  account  for  all  his  sufferings  there  and 
on  the  cross.  Still  there  may  have  been  these  other  agen- 
cies. His  words  immediately  after,  "  This  is  your  hour,  and 
the  power  of  darkness,"  (Luke  xxii.  53,)  will  bear,  and  nat- 
urally suggest,  such  a  construction.  "  His  struggle,"  says 
Olshausen,  "  was  an  invisible  agony  of  the  soul ;  ....  a  con- 
test against  the  power  of  darkness ;  for  as  in  the  beginning 
of  his  ministry  the  Saviour  was  tempted  by  the  enemy 
through  the  medium  of  desire,  so  now  at  its  end  was  he  as- 
sailed through  the  medium  o^  fear  J'  This  is  the  view  taken 
by  Mr.  Parsons  in  his  fine  essay  on  "The  Ministry  of  Sor- 
row."    "  All  the  hells,"  he  says,  "  were  admitted  to  assault, 

to  tempt,  that  humanity All  evil  influences  attacked 

him.  There  were  no  tendencies  to  sin  in  human  nature 
which  they  who  had  lived  in  the  indulgence  of  those  sins, 
and  had  so  gone  down  into  darkness,  and  then  and  there 
become  the  embodiment  of  those  sins,  did  not  find  in  the 
humanity  he  assumed,  and  endeavor  to  rouse  into  activity. 

They  were  all   resisted,  all  conquered No  spot  or 

stain  from  hell  could  cleave  to  him.  And  all  the  enemies 
of  good  yielded  to  his  perfect  goodness,  and  found  them- 
selves, all  and  forever,  defeated  and  subdued He  re- 
duced them  to  order,  and  subjected  them  forever  to  the  force 
of  those  laws  which  permit  them  to  excite  in  man  so  much 
only  of  their  own  evils  as  shall  leave  man  in  full  and  per- 
fect ability  to  resist  them  and  reject  what  they  would  give 
to  him."  This,  we  suppose,  is  Swedenborg's  view  of  the 
subject,  and  it  is  substantially  the  same  as  that  taken  by 


MATTHEW    XXVI.  36  -  46.  457 

Trench  in  his  Notes  on  the  Demoniacs  in  the  country  of 
the  Gadarenes.     "That  whole  period,"  he  says,  "was  the 

hour  and  power  of  darkness We  cannot  doubt  that 

the  might  of  hell  has  been  greatly  broken  by  the  coming  of 
the  Son  of  God  in  the  flesh;  and  with  this  the  grosser  mani- 
festations of  his  power." 

We  leave  this  whole  branch  of  the  subject,  in  connection 
with  what  we  have  already  said  of  evil  spirits,  as  lying 
in  a  region  which  can  be  only  darkly  and  imperfectly 
explained  or  explored  by  us. 

There  is  another  view  of  the  cause  of  our  Saviour's 
sufferings  which  has  entered  deeply  into  the  theology  of 
Christendom.  It  is  expressed  by  Olshausen  in  its  mildest 
form,  when  he  says  that  Jesus  in  Gethsemane,  "  as  repre- 
sentative of  mankind,  sustains  the  wrath  of  God."  We 
cannot  accept  this  view  of  the  subject, —  1.  Because  it  is  in- 
consistent with  all  the  moral  instructions  of  Jesus,  and  gives 
a  shock  to  all  the  moral  sensibiUties  and  convictions  which 
he  came  into  the  world  to  revive  and  sustain.  We  must 
throw  aside  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  Parable  of  the 
Prodigal  Son,  and  everything  else  in  the  Gospels  which 
relates  to  our  duties  and  the  character  of  God,  before  we 
can  accept  such  a  doctrine.  2.  We  cannot  accept  it,  because 
we  find  nothing  in  the  Scriptures  to  countenance  it.  In  the 
different  accounts  of  the  agony  of  Gethsemane  there  is  no 
indication  of  such  a  relation  between  God  and  his  Son. 
Nor  is  the  doctrine  to  be  found  in  the  Old  Testament. 
Allowing  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah  to  refer,  as  we  think 
it  does,  at  least  in  its  secondary  sense,  to  the  Messiah,  the 
interpretation  that  we  have  given  above  seems  to  us  much 
more  in  accordance  with  its  language  and  its  spirit  than  the 
horrible  idea  that  the  sinless  One  was  under  the  wrath  and 
curse  of  God.  "  We  must  not  for  a  moment,"  says  Alford, 
"  think  of  the  Father's  wrath  abiding  on  him  as  the  cause 
of  his  sufferings.  Here  is  no  fear  of  wrath,  but,  in  the  depth 
of  his  human  anguish,  the  very  tenderness  of  filial  love." 


458  MATTHEAV    XXVI.    47-56. 

For  a  fuller  view  of  this  subject,  see  Introduction  to  "  The- 
ological Essays,"  edited  by  Dr.  Noyes,  and  the  Notes  at  the 
close  of  that  volume. 

47-56. —  The  Apprehension  of  Jesus. 

The  different  narratives  of  this  event  are  marked  by  the 
differences  which  we  should  exj^ect  from  independent  wit- 
nesses of  actions  which  most  of  them  took  place  in  the 
night,  which  must  have  been  hurried  and  confused,  and 
which  could  not  have  been  seen  entire  in  all  their  relations 
by  any  one  of  those  who  were  present.  We  must  call  to 
mind  the  discij^les  just  waking  out  of  their  sleep  at  Geth- 
semanCj  the  overshadowing  trees,  the  glimmering  of  the 
moonlight  through  them,  the  crowd  with  weapons  and 
staves  or  clubs,  with  lanterns  and  torches,  hastening 
eagerly  towards  them,  haixUy  knowing  what  to  expect,  and 
without  the  thorough  understanding  and  concert  among 
themselves  that  would  be  found  if  they  had  been  only  a 
military  detachment  or  band.  The  great  multitude  which 
Matthew  speaks  of  were,  —  1st,  a  detachment  of  Roman 
soldiers  (^  anelpa,  a  hand,  the  word  used  to  express  a  cohort, 
John  xviii.  3,  12);  2d,  the  officers  or  captains  of  the  temple, 
who  were  Jews  (Luke  xxii.  52)  ;  3d,  servants  and  others 
dei^uted  by  the  priests ;  and,  4th,  some  of  the  high-priests 
and  elders  (Luke  xxii.  52).  Among  these  was  Judas. 
He  had  given  some  of  them  a  sign  by  which  they  might 
know  Jesus.  Confused  and  disconcerted,  we  may  suppose, 
by  the  consciousness  of  his  treacherous  purpose,  he  rushed 
forward  and  kissed  his  Master,  who  may  still  have  been 
among  the  trees,  and  in  such  a  position  that  the  preconcerted 
signal  would  hardly  be  seen  by  the  associates  whom  the 
traitor  had  left  behind.  The  mild  rebuke  of  our  Saviour 
would  increase  the  agitation  and  mental  embarrassment  of 
Judas,  so  that  he  may  have  fallen  back,  hardly  knowing 
what  he  did,  and  therefore  leaving  his  companions  still  in 


MATTHEW  XXVI.    47-56.  459 

doubt  as  to  which  person  was  Jesus.  The  subsequent  con- 
duct of  Judas,  as  inferred  from  his  repentance  and  death, 
shows  how  keen  his  sensibihties  were,  and  that  he  might 
now  have  been  wholly  confused  and  disconcerted.  At  this 
moment  Jesus  came  forward,  as  represented  by  John  (xviii. 
4-9),  and,  giving  himself  up,  by  the  extraordinary  im- 
pression which  his  calm  and  majestic  presence  produced, 
gained  for  his  disciples  an  opportunity  of  going  away.  But 
at  that  time  another  party  of  his  assailants,  perhaps,  coming 
up  and  laying  hands  upon  him,  one  of  his  followers  asked, 
"  Lord,  shall  we  smite  with  the  sword  (fiaxalpa)  ?  "  (Luke 
xxii.  49)  ;  and  Peter,  without  waiting  for  a  reply  (John 
xviii.  10),  drew  his  weapon  (see  note  to  verse  51)  and  cut 
off  the  right  ear  of  one  of  the  high-priest's  servants.  This 
would,  of  course,  cause  some  commotion  and  delay.  Jesus 
immediately  commanded  Peter  to  sheathe  the  weapon,  and 
then  healing  the  wound  he  thus  allayed  the  anger  of  his 
enemies,  which  otherwise  might  have  been  dangerous  to 
Peter.  At  the  same  time  he  rebuked  the  rashness  of  his 
disciple,  by  reminding  him  of  the  fatal  consequences  of  such 
conduct,  and,  53,  the  needlessness  of  any  human  inter- 
ference ;  since  even  then  he  had  only  to  ask  for  deliverance 
from  his  enemies,  and  it  would  be  granted.  It  was  still 
in  his  own  power  to  live  or  die,  as  he  had  said  (John  x. 
18),  "  No  man  taketh  it  (my  life)  from  me,  but  I  lay  it  down 
of  myself.  I  have  power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power 
to  take  it  again."  But  how  then  could  the  purposes  of  Di- 
vine mercy,  as  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  be  fulfilled  ?  In 
this  same  calm  and  self-collected  spirit  he  appealed  to  the 
multitudes,  —  the  high-priests,  the  officers  of  the  temple, 
and  the  elders  (Luke  xxii.  52),  —  asking  why  they  had  come 
against  him  as  against  a  robber,  with  weapons.  But  this 
also,  he  added,  56,  was  a  part  of  the  same  divine  plan  as 
declared  in  the  Scriptures.  "  All  this  was  done  in  such  a 
manner  that  the  Scriptures  of  the  prophets  were  fulfilled." 
Mark  (xiv.  27),  at  an  earlier  period  of  the  narrative,  had 


460  MATTHEW   XXVI.    57-68. 

quoted  the  passage  (Zeeh.  xiii.  7),  "I  will  smite  the  shep- 
herd, and  the  sheep  shall  be  scattered."  Matthew,  after  the 
genei-al  reference  to  the  prophets,  adds,  as  Mark  also  does 
(xiv.  50),  "  Then  all  the  disciples  forsook  him  and  fled." 
But  Mark  goes  on  to  say,  "And  there  followed  him  a  certain 
young  man,  having  a  linen  cloth  cast  about  his  naked  body ; 
and  the  young  men  laid  hold  on  him  :  and  he  left  the  linen 
cloth,  and  fled  from  them  naked."  All  the  Evangelists  write 
that  Peter  followed  Jesus  afar  off,  and  John  adds  (xviii.  15), 
undoubtedly  speaking  of  himself,  "  and  so  did  another  dis- 
ci23le :  that  disciple  was  known  unto  the  high-priest,  and 
went  in  with  Jesus  into  the  hall  [not  the  palace]  of  the 
high-priest." 

57-68.  —  Jesus  taken  before  the  High-Priest. 

The  distance  from  Gethsemane  to  the  nearest  gate  of  the 
city  is  less  than  a  thousand  feet.  The  house,  or  rather  pal- 
ace, of  the  high-priest  was  probably  on  the  northeastern 
slope  of  Mount  Zion,  very  near  the  temple,  and  perhaps  a 
third  of  a  mile  from  the  fortress  of  Antonia,  where  the 
Roman  Procurator  or  governor  had  his  quarters.  Jesus 
was  taken  first  to  Annas,  who  had  been  high-priest,  and  was 
father-in-law  to  Caiaphas  (John  xviii.  13).  Annas,  who 
may  have  been  in  the  same  palace  with  his  son-in-law, 
sent  Jesus  bound  to  Caiaphas  (John  xviii.  24).  His  being 
sent  to  Annas  is  omitted  by  the  first  three  Evangelists  as  a 
circumstance  of  little  importance.  This  examination  before 
Caiaphas  was  only  an  informal  preliminary  investigation ; 
"  for  it  was  not  lawful  to  try  causes  of  a  capital  nature  in 
the  night."  (Jahn's  Bib.  Arch.  246.)  The  object  of  the  ex- 
amination was,  not  to  discover  what  crimes  the  prisoner  had 
committed,  but  what  charges  could  be  brought  against  him 
with  the  best  prospect  of  causing  him  to  be  put  to  death. 
As  a  trial,  the  whole  proceedings  were  irregular  and  illegal. 
He  was  taken  to  the  high-priest,  with  whom  (Mark  xiv. 


MATTHEW    XXVI.    69-75.  461 

53)  all  the  high-priests,  elders,  and  scribes  had  assembled. 
The  whole  Sanhedrim  (Council)  sought  false  testimony 
against  him  in  order  to  put  him  to  death.  After  many 
unsuccessful  efforts,  60,  61,  they  at  last  succeeded  in  getting 
two  witnesses,  who,  by  perverting  both  the  words  and  the 
application  of  an  expression  which  he  had  used  a  long  time 
before  (John  ii.  19),  gave  some  color  of  excuse  for  the 
charge  of  blasphemy.  Whereupon  the  high-priest  asked 
Jesus  what  explanation  he  could  make  in  regard  to  the 
accusation.  Jesus,  knowing  that  they  were  only  seeking 
to  compass  his  death,  made  no  reply.  '  Then  the  high-priest 
said,  "  I  adjure  thee  by  the  living  God  to  tell  me  whether 
thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God."  Jesus  replied,  "  Thou 
hast  said  "  ("  I  am,"  Mark  xiv.  62.)  Then  addressing  him- 
self to  the  assembled  representatives  of  the  Jewish  people, 
in  language  more  impressive  to  them  from  its  resemblance 
to  a  remarkable  passage  in  one  of  their  prophets  (Dan.  vii. 
13,  14),  he  continued,  "  Hereafter  shall  ye  see  the  Son  of 
man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  power,  and  coming  upon 
the  clouds  of  heaven."  This  was  enough.  The  high-priest, 
as  an  expression  of  his  horror  at  such  blasphemy,  rent  his 
garments ;  when,  catching  his  spirit,  the  attendants  who  held 
Jesus  (Luke  xxii.  63,  64)  spit  in  his  face,  and,  having 
blindfolded  him,  smote  him  with  the  palms  of  their  hands 
and  with  sticks,  saying  in  derision,  "  Prophesy  to  us  now, 
thou  Christ,  who  it  is  that  is  striking  thee." 

69-75.  —  Peter's  Denial. 

While  these  things  were  taking  place,  another  series  oi 
incidents  was  occurring,  which  is  recorded,  though  with 
slight  differences,  by  all  the  Evangelists.  In  order  to  un- 
derstand the  narratives,  it  is  necessary  to  understand  some- 
thing of  the  architecture  of  a  Jewish  palace.  It  was  "  usually 
built  round  a  quadrangular  interior  court ;  into  which  there 
is  a  passage  (sometimes  arched)  through  the  front  part  of 

39* 


4G2  MATTHEW   XXVI.    69-75. 

the  house,  closed  next  to  the  street  by  a  heavy  folding  gate, 
with  a  small  wicket  for  single  persons,  kept  by  a  porter." 
(Robinson's  Harmony,  225.)  This  interior  court  is  somcr 
times  called  avXr},  or  the  hall,  and  the  passage  from  the 
street  to  it,  TrpoavXiov  or  nvXav,  the  porch  or  gateway.  When 
Jesus  was  first  brought  to  the  high-priest,  Peter  followed 
him  at  a  distance  as  far  as  to  the  hall,  58,  (not  palace,  but 
hall,  or  open  court),  into  which  he  was  brought  by  a  disciple 
(John)  who  was  known  to  the  high-priest.  There  in  the 
hall  he  sat  by  a  fire  which  had  been  made  (John  xviii.  16, 
18),  to  see  wliat  was  passing  in  the  room  in  which  Jesus 
was,  and  which  would  be  open  on  the  side  next  to  the  court. 
While  he  was  sitting  out  here,  69,  i.  e.  outside  of  the  room 
where  Jesus  was,  he  was  recognized  by  a  damsel  as  one  of 
those  who  had  been  with  Jesus,  and  charged  with  having 
been  with  him.  But  he  denied  the  charge.  In  order  to 
Avithdraw  himself  from  observation,  he  then  went  out  into 
the  passage-way  or  porch,  71,  and  there  being  recognized 
very  soon,  he  denied  his  Master  the  second  time.  After 
about  an  hour,  during  which  time  he  had  probably  returned 
to  the  court,  he  was  recognized  a  third  time,  when  with 
vehement  imprecations  he  denied  all  knowledge  of  the  man. 
At  that  moment  the  cock  crew,  and  Jesus,  who  was  in  a 
room  that  was  open  on  the  side  towards  the  court,  turned 
and  looked  upon  him,  and  he,  remembering  the  prediction, 
rushed  out  through  the  passage-way  and  wept  bitterly.  It 
is  f)Ossible  that  the  third  denial  took  place  just  as  they  had 
bound  Jesus  and  were  leading  him  away  to  Pilate.  For 
"  the  morning,"  spoken  of  Matt,  xxvii.  1,  began  with  the 
cock-crowing,  or  at  three  o'clock. 


MATTHEW   XXVI.  463 


NOTES. 


And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Jesus  had  finished  all  these  say- 

2  inf^s,  he  said  unto  his  disciples,  Ye  know  that  after  two  days  is 
the  feast  of  the  passover  ;  and  the  Son  of  man  is  betrayed  to 
be  crucified. 

3  Then  assembled  together  the  chief  priests,  and  the  scribes, 
and  the  elders  of  the  people,  unto  the  palace  of  the  high-priest, 

4  who  was  called  Caiaphas ;  and  consulted  that  they  might  take 
6  Jesus  by  subtilty  and  kill  him.     But  they  said.  Not  on  the 

feast-day,  lest  there  be  an  uproar  among  the  people. 

6  Now  when  Jesus  was  in  Bethany,  in  the  house  of  Simon  the 

7  leper,  there  came  unto  him  a  woman  having  an  alabaster  box 
of  very  precious  ointment,  and  poured  it  on  his  head  as  he  sat 

8  at  meat.     But  when  his  disciples  saw  it,  they  had  indignation, 

9  saying.  To  what  purpose  is  this  waste  ?     For  this  ointment 

10  might  have  been  sold  for  much,  and  given  to  the  poor.  When 
Jesus  understood  it,  he  said  unto  them,  Why  trouble  ye  the 

11  woman  ?  for  she  hath  wrought  a  good  work  upon  me.  For  ye 
have  the  poor  always  with  you ;  but  me  ye  have  not  always. 

12  For  in  that  she  hath  poured  this  ointment  on  my  body,  she  did 

13  it  for  my  burial.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  wheresoever  this 
gospel  shall  be  preached  in  the  whole  world,  there  shall  also 
this,  that  this  woman  hath  done,  be  told  for  a  memorial  of  her. 

14  Then  one  of  the  tAvelve,  called  Judas  Iscariot,  went  unto  the 

15  chief  priests,  and  said  unto  them.  What  will  ye  give  me,  and  I 


2.  after  two  days  is  the  real  name.  Josephus  calls  him  *'  Jo- 
feast  of  the  Passover]  i.  e.  seph  Caiaphas."  5.  Not  on 
on  the  next  day.  3.  the  feast  ciay]  Our  translators 
the  chief  priests]  or  high-priests,  have  inserted  the  word  day  without 
This  ofhce  was  originally  for  life,  authority.  It  should  be,  Not  dunng 
and  was  received  by  right  of  inheri-  the  festival.  The  expression  refers 
tance.  But  Herod  the  Great  changed  to  the  whole  period  of  the  feast  or 
the  high-priest  at  his  pleasure,  and  festival,  Avhich  continued  eight  Jew- 
the  Roman  Pi-ocurators  or  governors  ish,  or  seven  of  our  days, 
followed  his  example  in  this  respect.  12.  she  did  it  for  my  huri- 
Valerius  Gratus,  who  appointed  Cai-  al]  rather,  she  did  it  to  prepare  me 
aphas  to  the  office,  had,  according  for  burial.  Sometimes  a  long  period 
to  Josephus  (Ant.  XVIII.  2.  2),  ap-  intervened  between  the  preparation 
pointed  and  displaced  five  or  six  of  a  body  for  burial  and  the  burial 
high-priests  within  a  few  years.  itself.  The  preparing  of  Jacob's 
Avho  was  called]  sumamed,  body  for  burial  (Gen.  1.  2)  took 
i.  e.  being  culled  in  addition  to  his  place    in  Egypt,  his    sepulture  in 


464 


MATTHEW    XXVI. 


will  deliver  him  unto  you  ?    And  they  covenanted  with  him  for 
thirty  pieces  of  silver.     And  j&'om  that  time  he  sought  opportu-  id 
nity  to  betray  him. 

Now  the  first  day  of  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread  the  disci-  17 
pies  came  to  Jesus,  saying  unto  him,  Where  wilt  thou  that  we 
prepare  for  thee  to  eat  the  passover  ?     And  he  said,  Go  into  is 


Canaan.  15.  And 

they  covenanted  with  him 
for]  or  paid  to  him  thirty  pieces  of 
silver^  —  thirty  silverlings  it  has  been 
translated,  or  shekels  of  silver, — 
about  fifteen  or  twenty  dollars.  As 
the  thirty  shekels  were  the  esti- 
mated value  of  a  slave's  life  (Ex. 
xxi.  32),  that  sum  may  have  been 
fixed  upon  -as  a  mark  of  con- 
tempt towards  Jesus. 
17.  the  passover]  Avas  institixted  for 
the  purpose  of  preserving  among 
the  Hebrews  the  memory  of  their 
liberation  from  Eg\'ptian  seiwitude, 
and  of  the  safety  of  their  first-born 
on  that  night  when  the  first-bom  of 
the  Egyptians  perished.  (Exod.  xii.) 
It  was  celebrated  for  seven  days 
(Lev.  xxiii.  4-8),  during  the  whole 
of  which  time  the  people  ate  un- 
leavened bread.  On  the  eve  of  the 
14th  day  of  the  month  Abib  the 
leaven  was  removed.  On  the  10th 
of  the  month  the  master  of  a  family 
separated  a  ram  or  a  goat  of  a  year 
old.  It  was  taken  to  the  appointed 
court  of  the  temple,  and  there  slain 
and  prepared  in  the  presence  of  a 
priest,  that  he  might  see  that  it  was 
free  from  defect  or  disease,  and 
sprinkle  its  blood  on  the  altar.  It 
was  slain  on  the  14th  day  of  the 
month,  between  the  two  evenings. 
"  The  Pharisees  and  Eabbinists,  ac- 
cording to  the  Mishna  (Pesach  5.  3) 
held  the  first  evening  to  commence 
with  the  declining  sun;  and  the  sec- 
ond evening  Avith  the  setting  sun. 
This  latter  view  was  the  prevailing 
one  in  the  time  of  our  Lord;  the 
hour  of  evening  sacrifice  and  prayer 
being  then  the  ninth  hour,  or  3  P.  M. 
(Acts  iii.  1);  and  the  paschal  lamb 
being  regularly  killed  between  the 
ninth  and  eleventh  hours.  (Jose- 
phus,  Jewish  Wars,  VI.  9.  3.)"  Eob- 
inson's  Lexicon.  It  was  roasted 
whole,  with  two  spits  thrust  through 


it,  the  one  lengthwise,  the  other 
transversdy,  so  that  the  animal  was 
m  a  manner  cnicified.  Its  flesh  was 
divided,  and  served  to  those  who 
partook,  with  a  salad  of  wild  and 
bitter  herbs.  Not  fewer  than  ten 
nor  more  than  twenty  persons  assem- 
bled in  one  place  to  obserA-e  the 
feast.  At  first  the  Passover  Avas 
eaten  by  them  standing,  Avith  the 
loins  girt  about,  and  Avith  shoes  on 
the  feet.  But  this  was  not  the  case 
at  the  time  of  oiir  Saviour,  Avhen 
the  Greek  and  Eoman  custom  of 
reclining  at  the  table  preA-ailed. 
"  It  is  the  custom  of  slaves,"  saA's 
the  Jei-jisalem  Talmud,  ''to  eat 
standing;  but  noAV  Israelites  eat 
reclining,  to  denote  that  they 
passed  from  servitude  into  free- 
dom." Jahn's  ArchjeologA'.  "  The 
paschal  supper,  1.  began  with  the 
first  cup  of  Avine,  before  drinking 
Avhich  the  master  of  the  household 
offered  a  prayer  of  thanksgiving  to 
God  for  the  gift  of  Avine.  Then  Avas 
put  on  the  table,  2.  a  supply  of 
bitter  herbs,  commemorative  of  the 
bitter  life  led  in  Egypt:  of  these, 
dipped  in  an  acid  and  salt  liquid, 
each  partook  amid  songs  of  praise. 
Then  folloAved,  3.  the  serA'ing  of  the 
unleaA-ened  bread,  of  the  highly- 
seasoned  kharoset,  or  broth  of  the 
paschal  lamb,  and  the  peace-oft'er- 
ings  (Lev.  iii.  3;  x.  14).  There- 
ion,  4.  the  master,  after  blessing 
ni  Avho  made  heaven  and  earth, 
dipped  a  portion  of  the  bitter  herbs, 
about  the  size  of  an  olive,  into  the 
Maroset,  and  ate  the  sop.  In  this 
act  he  Avas  imitated  by  all  at  the 
table.  6.  The  second  cup  was  made 
ready;  and  this  AA-as  the  point  at 
which  the  father  of  the  family, 
asked  or  unasked  by  his  son,  ex- 
plained the  import  of  the  feast  in 
all  its  parts."  After  singing,  6. 
the  first  part  of  the  scries  of  Psalms 


S 


MATTHEW   XXVI. 


465 


tlie  city  to  such  a  man,  and  say  unto  him,  The  Master  saith, 
My  time  is  at  hand  ;  I  will  keep  the  passover  at  thy  house  with 

19  my  disciples.     And  the  disciples  did  as  Jesus  had  appointed 

20  them ;    and  they  made  ready  the  passover.     Now  when  the 

21  even  was  come,  he  sat  down  with  the  twelve. And  as  they 

did  eat,  he  said.  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  that  one  of  you  shall 

22  betray  me.     And  they  were  exceeding  sorrowful,  and  began 

23  every  one  of  them  to  say  unto  him,  Lord,  is  it  I  ?  And  he 
answered  and  said.  He  that  dippeth  his  hand  with  me  in  the 

24  dish,  the  same  shall  betray  me.  The  Son  of  man  goeth,  as  it 
is  written  of  him  ;  but  woe  unto  that  man  by  whom  the  Son  of 
man  is  betrayed  !  it  had  been  good  for  that  man  if  he  had  not 

25  been  born.  Then  Judas,  which  betrayed  him,  answered  and 
said,  Master,  is  it  I  ?     He   said   unto  him.  Thou   hast   said. 

26 And  as  they  were  eating,  Jesus  took  bread,  and  blessed 

it,  and  brake  it,  and  gave  it  to  the  disciples,  and  said,  Take, 

27  eat ;  this  is  my  body.     And  he  took  the  cup,  and  gave  thanks, 

28  and  gave  it  to  them,  saying,  Drink  ye  all  of  it ;  for  this  is  my 
blood  of  the  new  testament,  which  is  shed  for  many  for  the  re- 

29  mission  of  sins.     But  I  say  unto  you,  I  will  not  drink  hence- 


termed  the  Hallel  (Ps.  cxiii.,  cxiv.), 
the  master,  7.  washed  his  hands, 
and,  breaking  a  loaf,  pronounced  a 
thanksgiving,  and  then,  the  cere- 
monial preparation  being  finished, 
the  meal,  8.  properly  was  eaten. 
It  was  at  this  period  probably  that 
Jesus,  troubled  in  spirit,  said,  21, 
"  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  one  of 
vou  shall  betrav  me."  See  Beard's 
biblical  Reading-Book,  p.  254. 

24.  it  had  been  §[ood  for  that 
man  if  he  had  not  been  born] 
"  This  phrase  does  not  necessarily 
hnply  the  interminable  eternity  of 
perdition:  for  it  is  a  proverbial  ex- 
pression. Cf.  Luke  xxiii.  29,  Eccle- 
siasticus  xxiii.  14.  Judas  obtains  a 
situation  of  exclusively  pre-eminent 
misery  amongst  the  'souls  of  the 
damned.  For  so  long  a  time  he 
accompanied  our  Lord,  not  with- 
out sharing  the  sorrows  coimected 
therewith;  a  little  befoi-e  the  joy- 
ful pentecost  he  died." 
that  man]  "  The  words,  that  man, 
might  seem  a  predicate.  That  is 
the  desiguatiou  of  one  who  is  con- 


sidered already  far  off."  Bengel. 
We  find  in  the  Gospel  narratives"  no 
ground  for  sympathy  with  those 
Avho  would  excuse  or  palliate  the 
conduct  of  Judas.  He  who  could 
be  so  long  a  time  with  Jesus,  and 
yet  gain  nothing  of  his  moral  and 
spiritual  power,  must  have  closed 
his  heart  against  all  that  Avas  high 
or  holy.  The  very  terms  of  his 
proposal  to  the  rulers,  15,  "  What 
will  ye  give  me  if  I  will  deliver  him 
to  you  f''  show  how  base  and  shame- 
less his  motives  were,  and  are  en- 
tirely inconsistent  with  the  view 
sometimes  entertained,  that  Judas 
took  this  step  only  that  he  might 
urge  Jesus  on  to  announce  his  real 
purpose  and  to  assume  the  royal 
authority  which  belonged  to  him'  as 
the  Messiah.  His  subsequent  re- 
morse, ending  in  death,  shows  in- 
deed strong  "sensibilities,  but  this 
only  aggravates  his  guilt.  For  it 
indicates  what  he  had  to  stniggle 
against  in  his  own  heart  before  he 
could  bring  himself  to  betray  his 
Lord   for    the    price    at    which    a 

DD 


4:QQ 


MATTHEW    XXVI. 


forth  of  this  fruit  of  the  vine,  until  that  day  when  I  drink  it 
new  with  you  in  my  Father's  kingdom. 

And  when  they  had  sung  an  hymn,  they  went  out  into  the  30 


slave's  life  Avas  valued,  and  thus 
proves  him  to  have  been,  iu  spite  of 
his  better  nature,  guilty  of  the  two 
most  detestable  crimes,  avarice  and 
treachery,  if  not  also  of  murder. 
No  good'can  come  from  the  attempt 
to  extenuate  the  guilt  of  such  a 
character.  29.  when  I 

drink  it  new  with  you  in  my 
Father's  kingdom]  The  word 
new,  Kaipov,  used  here,  is  not  the 
same  as  that  which  is  used,  ix.  17, 
V€ou,  to  describe  the  newly-made 
wine  which  was  not  to  be  put  into  old 
bottles.  It  is  the  same  word  which 
is  applied  to  the  neio  covenant,  or 
Christian  dispensation,  to  distin- 
guish it  from  the  old  covenant,  or 
Mosaic  disjiensation.  It  means,  not 
something  newly  made  of  the  same 
sort,  but  something  of  a  different 
sort.  As  the  religion  of  Jesus  is  the 
spiritual  fulfihuent  of  that  which 
was  shadowed  forth  in  the  Mosaic 
dispensation,  so  '■'•the  icine''  which 
he  will  drink  '■'■neio^'  with  his  disci- 
ples in  the  kingdom  of  his  Father, 
is  the  spiritual  refreshment  and  life 
which  shall  be  the  perfect  fulfil- 
ment of  that  which  is  now  only 
symbolized  by  the  eucharistic  wine, 
or,  in  its  spiritual  sense,  the  blood  of 
Christ.  "  The  Jewish  Passover  was 
superseded  by  the  Lord's  Supper; 
this  will  be  again  succeeded  by  fur- 
ther things  of  a  heavenly  natui-e." 
Bengel.  Another  instance  this  of 
the  way  in  which  Jesus  rises  from 
the  natm-al  to  the  spiritual  signifi- 
cation of  language,  without  a  single 
explanatory  word  to  show  where 
the  transition  takes  place.  We 
have  only  the  connection  in  which 
the  words  are  found  to  guide  us 
in  the  interpretation.  "  Emblem," 
says  Lord  Bacon,  "reduceth  con- 
ceits [conceptions]  intellectual  to 
images  sensible,  which  strike  the 
memory  more."  "  The  scope  or 
purpose  of  the  Spirit  of  God  is  not 
to  express  matters  of  nature  in 
the  Scriptures  otherwise  than  in 
passage,    and    for    application    to 


man's  capacity,  and  to  matters 
moral  or  divine."  30. 

sung  an  hymn]  The  word  thus 
translated  may  mean  that  the 
hymn  was  either  sung  or  recited. 

into  the  Mount  of  Olives] 
One  of  the  most  affecting  incidents 
in  the  Bible  is  related  in  comiec- 
tion  with  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and 
forms  no  unsuitable  introduction  to 
the  agony  of  Gethsemane.  When 
Absalom  had  rebelled  against  his 
father,  David,  leaving  the  ark  of 
God  in  Jerusalem,  "  went  up  by 
the  ascent  of  Mount  Olivet,  and 
wept  as  he  went  up,  and  had  his 
head  covered,  and  he  went  bare- 
foot: and  all  the  people  that  was 
with  him  covered  eveiy  man  his 
head,  and  went  up,  weeping  as  they 
went  up."  (2  Sam.  xv.  30.)  The 
western  base  of  the  Mount  of  Olives 
is  bounded  by  the  brook  Kedron, 
and  is  one  or  two  hundred  yards 
distant  from  the  eastern  wall  of  the 
temple.  The  summit  is  about  2750 
feet  above  the  Mediterranean,  and 
4060  feet  above  the  Dead  Sea,  and 
137  feet  above  the  highest  part  of 
Jenisalem.  (See  Barclay's  Jerusa- 
lem, pp.  104,  105.)  The  mean  dis- 
tance of  that  part  of  the  summit 
Avhich  lies  opposite  to  the  city,  from 
the  eastern  wall  of  Jerusalem,  is 
about  half  a  mile  by  the  nearest 
pathway,  and  of  course,  in  a 
straight  line,  much  less.  "  When 
about  half  the  way  up  the  ascent," 
says  Prof.  Hackett,  "  I  found  my- 
self, apparently,  off  against  the  lev- 
el of  Jenisalem."  "  Three  paths, 
deeply  worn,"  he  savs,  "  lead  over 

the  mount "W'e  gaze  at  those 

paths  the  more  intently  because  we 
have  no  doubt  that  the  feet  of  the 
Saviour  trod  them  again  and  again 
as  he  approached  the  city  or  left  it. 
That  reflection  came  over  me  with 
such  power,  as  my  eyes  fell  upon 
them  for  the  first  time,^  that  I  could 
not  refrain  from  weeping."  Olivet 
"  must  have  been  adorned,  ancient- 
ly, with  fields  of  grain,  o'mvp'^    "^-^ 


MATTHEW    XXVI. 


467 


31  Mount  of  Olives.  Then  saith  Jesus  unto  them,  All  ye  shall 
be  offended  because  of  me  this  night;  for  it  is  written,  "I 
will  smite  the  Shepherd,  and  the  sheep  of  the  flock  shall  be 

32  scattered  abroad."     But  after  I  am  risen  again,  I  will  go  be- 

33  fore  you  into   Galilee.      Peter  answered  and  said  unto  him, 


orchards.  At  present  it  exhibits,  on 
the  Avhole,  a  desolate  appearance. 
Rocky  ledges  crop  out  here  and 
there  above  the  surface,  and  give  to 
the  hill  a  broken,  sterile  aspect. 
The  loose  soil,  which  might  cover 
them  in  part,  is  left  to  be  washed 
away.  Yet  the  mount  is  not  whol- 
ly, destitute  of  verdure  even  now. 
A  few  spots  are  jjlanted  with  grain ; 
and  fruit-trees,  as  almonds,  figs, 
pomegranates,  olives,  are  scattered 
up  and  down  its  sides.  The 
olives  take  the  lead  decidedl}',  and 
thus  vindicate  the  propriety  of  the 
ancient  name."  Barclay,'  in  his 
"  City  of  the  Great  King,"  p.  60, 
says  that  "  there  is  not  in  all  the 
world  a  prospect  so  delightful  to 
behold  as  the  panorama  to  be  en- 
joyed by  ascending  the  minaret 
alongside  the  Church  of  the  As- 
cension, that  now  crowns  the  ele- 
vation nearest  the  city."  From  this 
point  towards  the  east  are  to  be 
seen  the  Dead  Sea,  the  valley  of  the 
Jordan,  where  a  green  streak  "  — 
"  a  blue  strip  "  it  appeared  to  Dr. 
Hackett  —  "  on  a  whitish  ground 
marks  the  course  of  the  river,"  and 
beyend  the  plain  of  the  Joi-dan,  from 
north  to  south,  appears  a  continuous 
chain  of  mountains,  as  for  as  the 
steep  cliffs  of  the  Dead  Sea,  above 
which  rises,  deeper  in  the  country, 
Jebel  Shihan,  with  its  compressed 
and  gently  rising  summit,  which  in 
the  winter  time  is  frequently  cov- 
ered with  snow."  31.  for 
it  is  written,  I  will  smite  the 
Shepherd]  These  woi-ds  (Zech, 
xiii.  7)  are  from  a  prophecy  which, 
we  think,  in  several  places  glances 
on  through  the  shadows  of  interven- 
ing events  to  the  Messiah.  "  My 
servant,  the  Branch"  (Zech.  iii.  8), 
and  again  (vi.  12,  13),  "'the  man 
whose  name  is  the  Branch,"  who 
'*  shall  build  the  temple  of  the 
Lord,"  who  "shall  bear  the  glory," 


and  "  be  a  priest  upon  his  throne," 
refers,  accordino;  to  Dr.  Noyes,  to 
the  Messiah,  bo  does  (ix.  9)  "  Re- 
joice greatly,  0  daughter  of  Zion," 
"  behold  thy  king  cometh  unto  thee," 
"  lowly,  and  riding  upon  an  ass,  even 
a  colt,  the  foal  of  an  ass."  See 
Matt.  xxi.  5.  The  words  (xii.  10), 
"  they  shall  look  on  me  whom  they 
have  pierced,"  (see  John  xix.  37,) 
may  have  looked  forward  to  the 
same  period  for  their  fulfilment. 
The  passage  here  quoted  by  the 
Saviour  is  more  obscure  in  the  con- 
nection from  which  it  is  taken  in 
Zechariah,  but  in  the  obscured 
gleams  of  coming  conflicts  and 
glory  which  passed  before  the 
prophet's  mind,  the  vision  may 
have  been  designed  by  the  Om- 
niscient Spirit  to  foreshadow  the 
specific  event  to  Avhich  the  words 
are  here  applied  by  Jesus.  With 
our  views  of  prophecy,  there  is  no 
serious  difficulty  in  this  interpi-eta- 
tion.  32.  But  after  I 

am  risen  again,  I  will  go  be- 
fore you  into  Galilee]  This 
passage  has  troubled  the  commen- 
tators. "  It  is  something  exti-emely 
improbable,"  says  Schleiermacher, 
"  that  Jesus,  if  lie  foresaw  so  exact- 
ly the  days  of  his  resurrection,  and 
therefore'  could  not  but  know  that 
he  should  see  his  disciples  again 
more  than  once  in  Jerusalem, 
should  here  have  said  that  he 
would  lead  them  into  Galilee." 
At  this  distance  of  tiine,  and 
with  our  ignorance  of  the  cir- 
cumstances, it  is  impossible  for 
us  to  say  why  such  a  promise 
should  or  should  not  be  made  at 
that  particular  time.  The  meeting 
of  the  disciples  with  the  Lord  in 
Galilee  after  the  resuiTcction  holds 
a  prominent  place  in  the  Gospel  of 
Matthew  (xxviii.  7,  10,  16,)  and 
makes  the  impressive  close  of  the 
Gospel  of  Joiiu.    And  th«re  may 


4G3 


M.VTTHEW    XXVI. 


Thougli  all  men  shall  be  offended  because  of  thee,  yet  will  I 
never  be  offended.     Jesus  said  unto  him,  Verily,  I  say  unto  34 
thee,  that  this  night,  before  the  cock  crow,  thou  shalt  deny 
me  thrice.     Peter  said  unto  him,  Though  I  should  die  with  35 
thee,  yet  will  I  not  deny  thee.     Likewise  also  said  all  the 
disciples. 

Then  Cometh  Jesus  with  them  unto  a  place  called  Gethsem-  36 
ane,  and  saith  unto  the  disciples.  Sit  ye  here,  while  I  go  and 


have  been  special  reasons  for  fixing 
in  the  minds  of  the  disciples  the 
fact  that  they,  and  perhaps  the 
larger  company,  "  above  five  hun- 
dred brethren  at  once,"  mentioned 
by  St.  Paiil  (1  Coi-.  xv.  6),  were  to 
meet  him  in  Galilee.  The  ardent 
and  confiding  impetuosity  of  Peter's 
character,  33,  shows  itself  here. 
Probably  the  precise  reply  of  Jesus 
is  given  by  Mark  (xiv.  '30)  as  he 
received  it  from  St.  Peter  himself: 
*'  Verily  I  say  unto  thee,  that  thou 
to-day,  this  very  night,  before  the 
cock  nas  crowecl  twice,  shalt  deny 
me  thrice."  But  Peter  could  not 
believe  that  the  warning  was  need- 
ed, and  replied,  "  Though  it  should 
be  necessary  to  die  Avith  thee,  I  will 
not  deny  thee;  "  and  likewise  all  the 
rest  of"  the  disciples  asserted  the 
same,  in  their  vain  self-confidence. 

34.  this  night,  before  the 
cock  crow,  thou  shalt  deny  me 
thrice]  How  is  this  to  be  recon- 
ciled with  Mark  xiv.  30,  "Before 
the  cock  has  crowed  iiolce,  thou 
shalt  deny  me  thrice  "  ?  The  dif- 
ference is  so  slight  that  it  may  be 
allowed  to  stand  without  impairing 
our  confidence  at  all  in  the  Avriters. 
But  the  passages  may  perhaps  be 
reconciled.  "  Tlie  first  cock-crow- 
ing is  at  midnight;  but  inasmuch  as 
J'tio  hear  it,  when  the  word  is  used 
generally,  Ave  mean  the  second  crow- 
ing, early  in  the  morning,  before 
dawn.  If  this  view  be  taken,"  the 
two  expressions,  before  the  cock- 
cro7V,  and  before  the  cock  crouo 
twice,  "  amount  to  the  same,  —  only 
the  latter  is  the  more  accurate  ex- 
pression. It  is  most  likely  that 
Peter  understood  this  expression  as 
only  a  mark  of  time,  and  therefore 
received  it,  as  when  it  was  spoken 


before,  as  merely  an  expression  of 
distrust  on  the  Lord's  part;  it  was 
this  solemn  and  circumstantial  rep- 
etition of  it  which  afterwards  struck 
upon  his  mind  when  the  sign  itself 
was  literally  fulfilled."  Alford.  We 
do  not  think  this  explanation  per- 
fectly satisfactory.  We  know  too 
little"^  about  it  to  speak  with  con- 
fidence. It  has  been  questioned 
whether  cocks  were  kept  in  Jerusa- 
lem. But  even  if  they  were  not 
kept  by  the  Jews,  Avhich  is  by  no 
means  certain,  they  may  have  been 
kept  by  the  Romans  Avho  resided 
in  the 'city.  The  different  night 
watches  among  the  Roman- soldiers 
Avere  announced  by  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet.  (Livy,  XXVI.  15.)  Cicero, 
Pro  Murena, '9,  in  contrasting  the 
civil  Avith  the  military  life,  says, 
"  You  [the  civilian]  are  roused  "by 
the  croAving  of  the  cock,  he  [the 
soldier]  by  the  sound  of  the  trum- 
pet." In  Jerusalem  the  night 
Avatches  may  ha\'e  been  indicated 
to  the  citizens  generally  by  the 
sound  of  the  trumpet  in  the  tower 
of  Antonia,  Avhich  Avas  the  head- 
quarters of  the  military,  and  from 
Avhich  the  blast  of  the  trumpet 
might  easily  be  heard  in  the  hall 
of  the  high-priest's  palace.  "  The 
cock  crew  "  may  have  been  the  cus- 
tomary form  of  expression  for  the 
sounding  of  the  triuupet  Avhich  an- 
noimced  the  completion  of  that  pe- 
riod of  the  night  AAhich  Avas  called 
"  the  cock- c rowing. ^^  The  Avatches 
Avere  reckoned  backAvard;  midnight 
beginning  at  nine,  and  cock-croAv- 
ing  at  tweh'e  (i\Iark  xiii.  35),  and 
Avere  announced,  not  at  the  begin- 
ning, but  at  the  close.  36. 
Gethsemaiie]  To  some  persons 
the  fact  that  Kedron,  the  name  of 


MATTHEW    XXVI. 


469 


37  pray  yonder.     And  he  took  with  him  Peter  and  the  two  sons 

38  of  Zebedee,  and  began  to  be  sorrowful  and  very  heavy.  Then 
saith  he  unto  them,  My  soul  is  exceeding  sorrowful,  even  unto 

39  death  :  tarry  ye  here,  and  watch  with  me.  And  he  went  a 
little  farther,  and  fell  on  his  face,  and  prayed,  saying,  O  my 
Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me  !  never- 

40  theless,  not  as  I  will,  but  as  thou  wilt.     And  he  cometh  unto 


the  brook  over  which  Jesus  passed 
on  his  way  to  Gethsemane,  means, 
to  be  black,  and  Gethsemane,  an 
olive-press,  may  suggest  thoughts  in 
accordance  with  the  associations  of 
the  phxce  and  hour.  Gethsemane  is 
but  a  very  short  distance  from  the 
city,  the  north  end  of  the  garden 
being  about  145  feet  beyond  the 
bridge  over  the  Kedron,and  985  feet 
from  the  nearest  gate  of  the  city. 
*'  It  is  the  spot,"  says  Professor 
Hackett,  "  above  every  other  which 
the  visitor  must  be  anxious  to  see. 
It  is  the  one  Avhich  I  sought  out  be- 
fore any  other,  and  the  one  of  which 
I  took  my  hist  formal  view  on  the 
morning  of  my  departure.  The  tra- 
dition which  phices  the  agony  and 
betrayal  of  the  Saviour  here  has  a 
great  amount  of  evidence  in  its  sup- 
port  The  space  enclosed  as 

Gethsemane  contains  about  one  third 
of  an  acre,  and  is  surrounded  by  a  low 
wall  covered  with  white  stucco.  It 
is  entered  by  a  gate,  kept  under  lock 
and  key,  under  the  control  of  one 
of  the  convents  at  Jerusalem.  The 
eight  olive-trees  here  are  evidently 
very  aged,  ....  and  it  is  not  im- 
possible that  those  now  here  may 
have  sprung  from  the  roots  of 
those  Avhich  grew  there  in  the  days 

of  Christ As  I  sat  beneath  the 

olives,  and  observed  how  very  near 
the  city  was,  with  what  perfect  ease 
a  person  there  could  survey  at  a 
glance  the  entire  length  of  the  east- 
ern wall,  and  the  slope  of  the  hill 
towards  the  valley,  I  could  not  di- 
vest myself  of  the  imi)ression  that 
this  local  peculiarity  should  be  al- 
lowed to  explain  a  passage  in  .the 
account  of  the  Saviour's  apprehen- 
sion. Every  one  must  have  noticed 
something  abrupt  in  his  summons 
to  the  disciples,  — '  Arise,  let  us  be 
40 


going;  see,  he  is  at  hand  that  doth 
betray  me.'  (Matt.  xxvi.  46.)  It  is 
not  improbable  that  his  watchful 
eye,  at  that  moment,  caught  sight 
of  Judas  and  his  accomplices,  as 
they  issued  from  one  of  the  eastern 
gates,  or  turned  round  the  northern 
or  southern  corner  of  the  walls,  in 
order  to  descend  into  the  valley." 

37.  to  be  sorrowful  and 
very  heavy]  "  To  be  in  great  dis- 
tress, and  almost  beside  one's  self  for 
trouble."    Bengel.  38.  My  soul 

is  exceeding  sorrowful,  even 
unto  death]  A  Hebrew  form  of 
si)eech  indicating  sorrow  in  the  great- 
est possible  degree.  Soul,  the  sentient 
principle  of  animal  and  spiritual  life. 
This  is  the  only  instance,  Ave  be- 
lieve, in  which  Jesus  uses  the  Avord 
death  to  express  bodily  dissolution, 
unless  Avhen  obliged  to  do  so  in 
order  to  prevent  misapprehension. 
Death  Avith  him  apjilies  to  the  soul. 
(John  V.  24;  viii.  51,  52;  xi.  26.) 
Can  it  be  that  he  uses  the  Avord  ia 
this  sense  here,  to  intimate  that  in 
the  extremity  of  his  anguish  it  Avas 
as  if  he  Avere  subjected,  for  the  time, 
to  the  pangs  of  spiritual  death,  and 
brought  so  into  contact  Avith  the 
sins  and  consequent  sufferings  of 
the  Avorld,  that  he  felt  their  dread- 
ful Aveight  of  Avoe  and  death,  as  if 
they  had  been  laid  upon  his  OAvn 
soul  ?  39.  this  cup]     "  We 

may  be  sure  that  the  cup  Avhich  he 
prayed  might  pass  from  him  could 
not'  have  been  merely  the  bodily 
pain  and  death,  Avhich  so  many- 
men  have  endured  Avith  unshrink- 
ing fortitude."  Whately.  It  Avas 
the  shuddering  sense  of  horror  and 
grief  that  Avas  OA'erAvhelming  him, 
respecting  Avhich  he  prayed  that  it 
might  pass  from  him,  and  in  regard 
to  Avhich  his  prayer  Avas  heard. 


470  MATTHEW    XXVI. 

the  disciples,  and  findeth  them  asleep,  and  saith  unto  Peter, 
What !  could  ye  not  watch  with  me  one  hour  ?     AVatcli,  and  4V 
pray,  that  ye  enter  not  into  temptation  ;  the  spirit  indeed  is 
willing,  but  the  flesh  is  weak.     He  went  away  again  the  sec-  42 
Ond  time,  and  prayed,  saying,  O  my  Father,  if  this  cup  may 
not  pass  away  from  me,  except  I  drink  it,  thy  will  be  done. 
And  he  came  and  found  them  asleep  again  :  for  their  eyes  were  43 
heavy.     And  he  left  them,  and  went  away  again,  and  prayed  44 
the  third  time,  saying  the  same  words.     Then  cometh  he  to  his  45 
disciples,  and  saith  unto  them,  Sleep  on  now,  and  take  your 
rest ;  behold,  the  hour  is  at  hand,  and  the  Son  of  man  is  be- 
trayed into  the  hands  of  sinners.    Rise,  let  us  be  going ;  behold,  46 
he  is  at  hand  that  doth  betray  me. 

And  while  he  yet  spake,  lo,  Judas,  one  of  the  twelve,  came,  47 
and  with  him  a  great  multitude  with  swords  and  staves,  from 
the  chief  priests  and  elders  of  the  people.  Now  he  that  be-  48 
trayed  him  gave  them  a  sign,  saying.  Whomsoever  I  shall 
kiss,  that  same  is  he  :  hold  him  fast.  And  forthwith  he  came  49 
to  Jesus,  and  said.  Hail,  Master ;  and  kissed  him.  And  so 
Jesus  said  unto  him.  Friend,  wherefore  art  thou  come  ?     Then 


40.  asleep]  deeping  for  45.  Sleep  on  now]     The 

so?'ro?«.  (Luke  xxii.  45.)     "  There  is  afjony  is  now  over.    Jesus  no  longer 

another  symptom  of  grief,  which  is  requires  their  sympatliy.    He  there- 

iiot  often  noticed,  and  that  is  pro-  fore  lets  them  sleep  on,  though  the 

found  sleep.    I  have  often  witnessed  hour  and  the  man  of  treachery  are 

it  even  in  mothers,  immediately  after  at  hand.     After  this,  the   disciples 

the  death  of  a  child.     Criminals,  we  may   have   taken   their  rest   for    a 

are  told  by  Mr.  Akennan,  the  keep-  considerable    time,   before   he   saw 

er    of   Newgate,    in    London,   often  the  company  Avith  their  torches  and 

sleep  soundly  the  night  before  their  lantei-ns  coming  to  seize  him,  when, 

execution.     The  son  of  Gen.   Cus-  verse  46,  he  roused  his  disciples  that 

tine  slept  nine  hours  the  night  b,e-  they  might  have  a  few  moments  in 

fore  he  was  led  to  the  guillotine  in  which  to  awake  and  recover  them- 

Paris."     Dr.  Rush.  41.  selves  before  they  Avere  assailed. 

but  the   flesh    is   weak]     "  We  49.  and  'kissed  him]     "  It 

ought  to  take  this,  not  as  an  excuse  was  not  uinisual  for  a  master  to  kiss 

for  torpor,  but  as  an  incentive   to  his   disciple;   but  for  a  disciple  to 

watchfulness."    Bengel.    "  An  aban-  kiss    his    master    was    more    rare, 

domnent  to  sorrow  and  its  sequent  Whether,  therefore,  Judas  did  this 

emotions,  diuiinishes  the  dominant  under   pretence   of  respect,  or  out 

energy  of  the  spirit,  and  thus  facili-  of  open  contempt  and  derision,  let 

tates  the  victory  of  indwelling  sin;  it  be   inquired."      Lightfoot. 
whilst  to  sti-uggie  against  the  beset-  50.  Friend]    companion. 

ting  disposition,   and   to   give   our-  See  xx.  13,  "  Friend,  I  do  thee  no 

selves    to    prayer,    which    supplies  wrong."    The  word  must  have  come 

man    with   fresh   energy   from    the  home  sharply  to  the  heart  of  Judas, 

spiritual   world,   secure'  us  against  "  Friend,  wherefore  art  thou  come  ?  " 

temptation."     Olshausen.  "  Betray  est  thou  the   Son  of  man 


MATTHEW    XXVI. 


471 


51  came  they  and  laid  hands  on  Jesus,  and  took  him. And, 

behold,  one  of  them  which  were  with  Jesus  stretched  out  his 
hand,  and  drew  his  sword ;  and  struck  a  servant  of  the  high- 


with  a  kiss?"  The  latter  half  of 
the  appeal  is  from  Luke.  We  sup- 
pose that  both  the  expressions  were 
used  by  Jesus,  and  not,  with  Alford, 
that  the  meaning  of  the  words  re- 
ported by  Liike  is  involved  in  the 
expression  recorded  by  Matthew. 
It  may  have  been  thus  :  When 
Jesus  saw  Judas  coming  near,  he 
may  have  said,  "  Friend,  Avhy  art 
thou  coming?  "  and  then  after  the 
kiss  was  given,  he  may  in  a  dif- 
ferent tone  have  added,  "  Judas, 
betrayest  thou  the  Son  of  man  with 
a  kiss?"  51.  and  dreAV 

his  sword]  What  was  the  weapon 
or  instrument  here  denoted?  The 
woi-d  used  by  all  the  Evangelists  is 
fid)(aipa,  machaira,  of  Avhich  the 
primary  meaning  is  a  knife,  a  large 
Knife,  a  slaughter-knife.  Among  the 
Greeks  in  the  heroic  ages  it  Avas 
worn  suspended  in  a  sheath  by  the 
sword  on  the  left  side  of  the  body, 
and  was  used  on  all  occasions  as  a 
knife.  (See  Smith's  Greek  and 
Koman  Antiquities  ;  Homer's  Iliad, 
III.  271-273;  Herod.  II.  61.)  It  was 
used  either  as  a  weapon  or  a  knife. 
In  the  Septuagint  version  of  the 
Old  Testament  the  Avord  is  used  to 
designate  just  such  an  instrument, 
and  Avhetiier  it  is  to  be  rendered 
knife  or  sword  must  be  determined 
by  the  accompanying  circum- 
stances. For  example,  in  Ezekiel 
xxvi.  15,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord 
God  to  Tyre,  Shall  not  the  islands 
be  shaken  at  the  sound  of  thy  fall, 
Avhen  the  Avounded  groan,  Avhen  the 
machaira  is  draAvn  in  the  midst  of 
thee  ?  "  In  our  English  version  this 
last  clause  is  rendered,  "  When  the 
slaughter  is  made  in  the  midst  of 
thee,"  and  the  Avord  machaira,  an 
instrument  emploj-ed  not  oidy  in 
war,  but  primarily  in  slaughtering 
cattle,  may  have  been  used  in  this 
its  primary  sense,  to  describe  the 
butchery  of  an  effeminate  and  help- 
less people  at  the  hands  of  their 
enemies.  In  Genesis  xxvii.  40, 
"  And  by  thy  machaira  shalt  thou 


liA-e,  and  shalt  serA^e  thy  brother," 
the  Avord  may  be  rendei-ed  as  a 
knife  to  be  used  by  the  hunter, 
ratlier  than  as  a  SAVord  to  be  U;-yd 
only  in  Avar.  In  Ex.  xv.  9,  "  The 
enemy  said,  I  will  pui-sue,  I  Avill 
overtake,  I  will  divide  the  spoil,  I 
will  fill  my  soul,  I  Avill  destroy  Avith 
the  machaira,  my  hand  shall  pre- 
vail," the  AVord  is  used  to  designate 
a  Aveapon  of  war;  as  it  also  is  in 
Gen.  xxxi.  26,  "  and  carried  away 
my  daughters  as  captives  taken 
Avith  the  machaira.''^  On  the  other 
hand,  in  Gen.  xxii.  6,  10,  machaira 
is  the  instrument  (properly  trans- 
lated knife)  Avhich  Abraham  took 
Avith  him:  "  And  he  took  the  fire  in 
his  hand,  and  a  knife."  "  And  Abra- 
ham stretched  forth  his  hand,  and 
took  the  knife  to  slay  his  son." 
And  in  1  Kings  XA^iii.  28,  the 
machairai  AA'ere  the  knives  Avith 
Avhich  and  Avith  lancets  the  priests 
of  Baal  cut  themselves,  "  till  the 
blood  gushed  out  upon  them."  Noav 
the  language  of  the  Septuagint  Avas 
evidently  as  fomiliar  to  the  EA-an- 
gelists  as  that  of  the  HebrcAV  Scrip- 
tures. Their  quotations  are  often 
made  from  it,  and  its  use  of-  Greek 
words  Avould  have  great  influence 
Avith  them.  As  far  as  that  influence 
Avas  concerned,  they  may  have  used 
the  Avord  machaira  in  either  sense ; 
but  its  primary  meaning  Avas  that 
of  knife,  and  they  had  at  least  one 
other  AA'ord,  pofi^aia  (Luke  ii.  35; 
Rev.  i.  16;  ii.  12,  16;  vi.  8;  xix.  15, 
21)  by  Avhich  to  denote  a  sword 
Avithout  ambiguity.  We  must  then 
be  guided  by  the  circumstances  of 
tlie  case  in  the  construction  that  Ave 
put  upon  the  Avord  in  any  particular 
instance  in  AA'hich  it  is  iis'ed  by  them. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  machaira 
AA'ould  properh'  designate  the  kniA-es 
used  by  tlie  Jcavs  in  killing,  dress- 
ing, and  dividing  sacrifices,  in  pre- 
paring animal  food  before  it  Avas 
cooked,  and  in  carving  it  afterAvards. 
When  carried,  they  Avere,  for  safety 
and     convenience,     secured    in    a 


472 


MATTHEW    XXVI. 


priest,  and  smote  off  his  ear.      Then  said  Jesus   unto  him,  5J 
Put  up  again  thy  sword  into  his  place ;  for  all  they  that  take 


sheath.  Except  in  the  passage  be- 
fore us,  and  those  connected  with 
it,  the  word  is  found  in  the  Gospels 
only  twice.  "  I  came  not  to  send 
peace,  but  a  machaira;  for  I  am 
come  to  divide  a  man  from  (or 
against)  his  father,  and  a  daughter 
against  her  mother."  (Matt.  x.  34, 
85.)  Here,  as  opposed  to  peace, 
the  Avarlike  use  of  the  weapon  is 
first  suggested ;  but  in  the  explana- 
tion which  follows,  dividing  one 
against  another,  or  separating  one 
from  another,  the  other  use  of  the 
instrument  may  possibly  be  indi- 
cated. "And  they  shall  Yall  by  the 
edge  of  the  machaira,,  and  shall  be 
led  away  captive  into  all  nations." 
(Luke  xxi.  24.)  In  this  case  it  is 
spoken  of  as  a  weapon  of  Avar.  In 
the  Acts  it  occui-s  tAvice :  "  And  he 
killed  James  the  brother  of  John 
Avith  the  SAvord  "  (xii.  2),  the  exe- 
cutioner's sword.  "And  the  keeper 
of  the  prison,  awaking  out  of  his 
sleep,  and  seeing  the  prison  doors 
open,  he  dreAV  out  his  7nachaira  and 
Avould  haA-e  killed  himself"  (xvi. 
27.)  In  both  these  cases  ihe  word 
is  rightly  translated  sicord,  though 
the  instniment  spoken  of  may  have 
been  used  both  as  a  knife  and  a 
sword.  In  the  Epistles  of  Paul  the 
Avord  occurs  tAvice.  "  Who  shall 
separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ? 

Shall  tribulation  or  distress, 

or  peril,  or  machaira  f  "  (Rom.  \m. 
35.)  "  For  he  [the  ruler]  beareth  not 
the  machaira  in  A'ain."  (Rom.  xlii^ 
4.)  In  both  these  cases  the  Avarlike 
lase  of  the  instnimeiit  is  Avhat  is 
first  suggested  by  the  connection. 
In  the  Epistle  to  the  HebreAvs  (xi. 
34,  37),  "escaped  the  edge  of  the 
machaira,''''  "  Avere  slain  Avith  the 
machaira,''''  the  same  idea  evidently 
lies  uppermost.  But  Heb.  iv.  12 
appears  to  describe  the  other  and 
peaceful  uses  of  the  instrument. 
"  For  the  Avord  of  God  is  living  and 
effective,  sharjier  than  any  tAvo- 
edged  machaira,  penetrating  eA'en 
to  the  dividing  asimder  of  soul  and 
spirit,  both  of  joints  and  marroAv, 
and  a  discerner  of  the  thoughts  and 


imaginations  of  the  heart."  The 
machaira,  as  a  knife,  Avas  used  to 
separate  the  joints,  to  take  out  the 
marrow,  and  to  divide  and  open  the 
animal  offered  for  sacrifice,  so  that 
the  priest  could  inspect  all  its  in- 
Avard  parts.  Thus  it  might  be  said 
to  be  a  discerner  (the  idea  of  divis- 
ion lying  at  the  root  of  the  expres- 
sion )'of  the  thoughts  and  imagina- 
tions of  the  heart.  In  the  Apoca- 
lypse the  word  occurs  three  times. 
(Rev.  vi.  4,  xiii.  10, 14),  and  in  each 
case  as  a  desti'uctiA-e  Aveapon.  The 
result  of  this  examination  goes  to 
shoAv  that  the  Avord  machaira,  pri- 
marily signifying  an  instrument 
Avhich  Avas  used  both  us  a  Aveapon 
of  Avar  and  as  a  knife,  was  employed 
by  the  Avriters  in  the  Ncav  Testa- 
ment to  denote  an  instrument  Avhich 
might  be  used  for  either  of  these 
purposes,  but  Avhich  Avas  most  fre- 
quently named  in  reference  to  its 
Avarlike  i;ses.  In  Avhich  capacity 
is  the  instinment  spoken  of  in  the 
connection  before  us?  We  giA-e 
the  reply  nearly  in  the  Avords  of 
a  very  intelligent  and  painstaking 
student  of  the  Scriptures,  Avho  has 
kindly  favored  us  Avith  his  vicAvs :  — 
"  About  sunset  Peter  and  John, 
in  obedience  to  the  command,  '  Go 
and  prepare  for  us  the  Passover," 
(Luke  xxii.  8,)  had  killed  and  pre- 
pared the  paschal  lamb.  In  doing 
this,  and  in  dividing  the  roasted 
lamb  for  those  Avho  partook,  they 
must  have  had  knives.  Those  now 
used  by  the  Jcavs  for  such  purpo.-es 
Aary  from  six  to  eighteen  inches 
in  'length,  and  Avhen  carried  are 
secured  in  a  belt,  girdle,  or  sheath. 
Machaira  is  unquestionably  a  Avord 
Avhich  might  Avell  be  used  to  denote 
such  an  instrument.  BetAveen  the 
Paschal  feast  and  the  institution  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  soon  after  Judas 
had  left  the  chamber,  Avhile  Avani- 
ing  his  disciples  of  the  inliospitality 
for  Avhich  they  must  noAV  be  pre- 
pared (Luke  "xxii.  35-38),  Jesus 
inquired  of  them  if,  Avhen  he  had 
sent  them  Avithout  any  provision 
for  their  physical  wants,    *  Avithout 


MATTHEW    XXVI. 


473 


63  the  sword  shall  perish  with  the  sword.     Thinkest  thou  that  I 
cannot  now  pray  to  my  Father,  and  he  shall  presently  give  me 


purse   and   scrip   and   shoes,'    they 
had    lacked    anything  ;    and    they 
answered,    '  Xot'hing.'      '  But  now,'' 
he  said,   as    if   cii-cumstances   had 
changed,  and  they  must   do   some- 
thing to  provide  "for  themselves,  — 
'  But  now  he  that  hath  a  purse  let 
him  take  it,  likewise   also  a  bag  ; 
and  he  who  has  not  [one],  let  him 
sell  his  cloak  and  buy  a  machaira. 
For  I  say  unto  you  that  this  Avhich 
is  written,  "  And  he  was  reckoned 
among    the     transgressors,"    must 
now  be  accomplished  [reXeo-^^i'ai] 
in    me.      And    indeed    the    things 
[written]  concerning   me  are   hav- 
ing their  accomplishment  [reXosJ. 
And  they  said,  '  Lord,  behold,  here 
are  two  itiachaimV    And  he  said  to 
them, '  It  is  enough.'   Were  not  these 
the  machairai  Avhich  had  been  used 
late  in  the  afternoon  by  Peter  and 
John   in    killing   and   dressing  the 
paschal  lamb,  and  later  still  at  the 
table  in  dividing  the   lamb   among 
those  who  partook  ?     Chrysostom, 
commenting  on  Matt.  xxvi.  51,  says: 
'  But  whence  were  these  machairai  f 
They  [the  disciples]  had  come  from 
supper  and  from  the  table.     Where- 
fore it  is  probable  that  the  machairai 
Avere  there  on  account  of  the  lamb, 
and  that  they  [the  disciples]  hear- 
ing that  an  attack  would  be  made 
tipon  their  Master,  took  them  for  aid 
against  those  who  should  assail  him.' 
In   ;Matt.    Hom.   Ixxxiv.  al.  Ixxxv. 
0pp.  VII.  797,  798,  ed.  ISIontfaucon. 
Theophylact,  on   the  same  passage 
of  Matthew,  says :  '  He  [Peter]  had 
a  machaira  because    he   had   just 
slain    the    lamb   which    they   ate.' 
0pp.  ( Venet.  1754,  fol. )  1. 151^.     Cor- 
nelius a  Lapide,  in  his  note  on  Matt. 
xxvi.  says:  '  That  this  sivord  of  St. 
Peter  was  a  knife  which  the  Apostles 
had  used  in  slaying  and  eating  the 
lamb,  is  maintained  by  Toletus  on 
John  xviii.    10.     This   view   is   fa- 
vored  also  by  Chrysostom,    Theo- 
phylact, Joannes  ^laior,  Jansenius 
on  Matt,    xxvi.'     Comra.    in  Matt, 
p.  494.     Neander  says:   'The  word 
{machairai)      may  'be     translated 
40* 


hnives,  and  these  Avere  in  common  use 
among  traA'ellers  in  those  regions.' 
Life  of  Je>us,  Am.  Version  (New 
York,  1848),  p.  393. 

"  Later  in  that  night,  Judas  came, 
and  Avith   him   a   great   multitude, 
Avith   machairai   and    staves,  —  not 
spears,  the  more  appropriate  Aveapon 
of  Avarriors,  but  staves  or  clubs,  and 
such    other   Aveapons,    most    likely 
knives,    as    were    at    hand,  to    be 
hastily    seized   by    the    multitude. 
Alexander,  in   his  Comm.  on  ^Mark 
xiv.  43  -48,  suggests  the  rendering 
'  knives   and   slicks.'      Some   of  the 
mviltitude  laid  hands  on  Jesus.  'And 
Avhen  his  folloAvers   saw  Avhat  Avas 
about  to  take  place,  they  said  to 
him,  Lord,  shall  we  smite'  Avith  the 
machaira  ?     And  one  of  them  smote 
the  servant  of  the  high-priest,  and 
sti-uck  off  his  right  ear.'  (Luke  xxii. 
49,50.)     Then  Jesus  saith  unto  him, 
'  Put  up  again  thy  machaira  into  its 
place;   for  all  they  Avho  take  the 
SAVord  shall  perish  by  the  SAvord.' 
(Matt.  xxA'i.  52.)    In  "his  rebuke  to 
Peter,  Jesus  evidently  implied  that 
the  disciple,  in   making  the  use  of 
the   machaira   which   he   did  as   a 
weapon  of  Avar   and  violence,  had 
misunderstood    and    perverted    his 
meaning    in    the    conversation    re- 
specting it  at  the  paschal  table.    But 
Avere   ilrey  Avho    put    the  question, 
'  Lord,    shall    we    smite    Avith    the 
SAA-ord?  '  Peter  and  John,  or  one  of 
them   for  both  ?     There  Avere  but 
tAvo  machairai  among  the  disciples, 
the   same,  Ave   suppose,  Avhich  had 
been   used   by  Peter   and  John   in 
killing,  preparing,  and  dividing  the 
paschal  lamb.      One  of  these  dis- 
ciples   Avho    had    a    machaira  Avas 
Peter,  a   fact  Avhich  Ave  learn  only 
from    John    (xviii.    10).      He    was 
warned  bv  his  Master  not  to  use  it 
in  that  Av-av,  and  probably  escaped 
unknown  Awhile   Jesus  was  healmg 
the  Avound  Avhich  had  been  inflicted. 
Was  John  heard  to  ask  the  question, 
'  Shall  Ave  smite  Avith  the  machaira  7 
Or  Avas  he  seen  to  draw,  or  to  have 
such  a  Aveapon,  and  Avas  he  there- 


474 


MATTHEW    XXVI. 


more  than  twelve  legions  of  angels  ?     But  how  then  shall  the  54 
scriptures  be  fulfilled,  that  thus  it  must  be  ? In  that  same  55 


J'ore  '  laid  hold  of  so  that  he  could 
escape  only  with  the  loss  of  his  gar- 
ment? It  was  like  John  to  inquire 
and  wait  for  his  Lord's  reply  (Luke 
ix.  51  -  56),  and  it  was  like  Peter  to 
rush  into  action  without  waiting 
for  advice.  If  such  were  the  facts, 
then  the  narrative  relating  to  '  a 
certain  young  man'  (Mark  xiv.  51, 
52),  given  after  the  general  state- 
ment, '  they  all  forsook  him  and 
fled,'  is  a  recurrence  back,  such  as 
is  '  natural  and  common  in  all  nar- 
rative style,'  to  state  what  had 
happened  to  one  of  their  number 
before  they  fled." 

Thus  a  careful  review  of  the  oc- 
casion and  related  facts  does  not,  we 
think,  authorize  a  departure  from 
the  primary  meaning  of  the  word 
machaira  in  these  passages,  by 
translating  it  sword.  We  have  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  disciples, 
in  procuring  the  two  which  they 
possessed,  had  reference  to  anything 
further  than  the  peaceful  uses  to 
which  they  might  be  applied.  We 
may  not  be  able  to  show  why  it  was 
that  Jesus  should  think  it  so  im- 
portant for  his  disciples  to  have  a 
knife  of  that  sort  after  the  supper. 
But  that  he  did  not  mean  to  com- 
mand them  to  arm  themselves  with 
it  as  a  weapon  of  war,  is  a  supposi- 
tion consistent  with  the  use  of  the 
word  machaira,  and  with  the  uses 
to  which  the  instrument  itself  was 
put  ;  while  the  other  supposition, 
that  he  did  mean  to  command  them 
thus  to  arm  themselves  with  it  as  a 
sword,  is  at  variance  with  the  gen- 
eral spirit  of  his  life  and  his  religion, 
and  is  directly  contradicted  by  his 
words  to  Peter  after  he  had  so  used 
it.  52,  53.  Here  Jesus 

contrasts  the  aid  which  comes  from 
man's  violence  with  that  which 
may  come  from  God.  Tlihikeai  thou 
that  [cannot  now  pray  to  my  Father, 
and  he  shall  presently  r/ive  me  more 
than  twelve  legions  of  angels  ?  A 
legion  consisted  of  about  6,000.  The 
language  maybe  figurative;  but  it 
seems  to  us  much  more  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  it  was  intended  to 


give  us  a  glimpse  into  the  vast 
economy  of  God's  kingdom  and  the 
multitudes  of  the  heavenly  hosts 
who  act  as  his  spiritual  agents.  But 
always  in  our  prayers  for  help, "  Not 
as  I  will,  but  as  thou  wilt,''''  must  un- 
dei-lie  our  petitions.  We  must  not 
ask  for  the  intervention  even  of 
God's  angels,  except  as  it  may  be 
in  accordance  with  his  higher  pur- 
poses. ''  The  cup  which  my  Father 
hath  given  me,  shall'  I  not  drink 
it?  "  is  given  (John  xviii.  11)  as  the 
qualifying  clause  here,  where  Peter 
is  foi'bidden  to  use  the  weapon.  In 
]\Iatthew,  however,  54,  the  same 
idea  is  convej^ed  by  the  words,  "  But 
how  then  shall  the  Sci'iptures  be  ful- 
filled, that  thus  it  must  beV  which 
are  thiis  explained  by  Mr.  Norton: 
"  Your  prophets  and  you  have  an- 
ticipated a  great  messenger  from 
God  ;  what  they  and  you  have 
anticipated,  I  am;  but  what  is  now 
taking  place  is  necessary  in  order 
that  I  may  fully  sustain  the  charac- 
ter and  perform  the  offices  of  such 
a  messenger."  Inver.  53  Jesus  dis- 
tinctly implies  his  own  free  agency. 
It  Hes  within  his  choice  to  live  or 
die.  And  knowing  this,  he  cheer- 
fully bows  to  the  higher  purposes  for 
which  he  had  come  into  the  world. 
The  same  idea  is  repeated  in  ver.  56, 
and  brought  out  still  more  forciblj' 
in  John  xii.  27.  Jesus  asserts  man's 
freedom,  but  he  quite  as  distinctly 
recognizes  the  ovemxling  Provi- 
dence and  all-pervading  designs  of 
the  Divine  mind.  He  asserts  them 
both  as  facts,  and  shows  how  Ave 
practically  are  to  act  in  regard  to 
them,  though  he  does  not  show  on 
metaphysical  grounds  how  the  two 
are  to  be  reconciled  ;  especially 
when  the  purposes  of  God  have 
been  revealed  in  prophecies  which 
are  to  be  fulfilled  by  men.  Good 
men  will  choose  to  work  for  their 
fulfilment,  and  whatever  bad  men 
in  their  freedom  may  choose,  their 
actions  in  the  orderings  of  the 
Almighty  and  Omniscient  mind  will 
help  on  to  the  fulfilment  of  his  pur- 
poses, as  contrary  winds,  while  they 


MATTHEW   XXVI.  475 

hour  said  Jesus  to  the  multitudes,  Are  ye  come  out  as  against 
a  thief,  with  swords  and  staves,  for  to  take  me  ?  I  sat  daily 
with  you  teaching  in  the  temple,  and  ye  laid  no  hold  on  me ; 

66  but  all  this  was  done,  that  the  scriptures  of  the  prophets 
might  be  fulfilled.     Then  all  the  disciples  forsook  him,  and  fled. 

67  And  they  that  had  laid  hold  on  Jesus  led  him  away  to  Caia- 
phas  the  high-priest,  where  the   scribes  and  the  elders  were 

58  assembled.     But  Peter  followed  him  afar  off,  unto  the  high- 
priest's  palace  ;  and  went  in,  and  sat  with  the  servants  to  see 
69  the  end.     Now  the  chief  priests  and  elders,  and  all  the  council, 

60  sought  false  Avitness  against  Josus,  to  put  him  to  death.  But 
found  none  ;  yea,  though  many  false  witnesses  came,  yet  found 

61  they  none.  At  the  last  came  two  false  witnesses,  and  said, 
This  fellow  said,  I  am  able  to  destroy  the  temple  of  God,  and 

62  to  build  it  in  three  days.  And  the  high-priest  arose,  and  said 
unto  him,  Answerest  thou  nothing  ?    what  is  it  Avhich  these 

63  witness  against  thee  ?  But  Jesus  held  his  peace.  And  the 
high-priest  answered  and  said  unto  him,  I  adjure  thee,  by 
the  living  God,  that  thou  tell  us  whether  thou  be  the  Christ, 

64  the  Son  of  God.  Jesus  saith  unto  him.  Thou  hast  said  :  nev- 
ertheless, I  say  unto  you,  hereafter  shall  ye  see  the  Son  of 
man  sitting  on  the  right  hand  of  power,  and  coming  in  the 

65  clouds  of  heaven.  Then  the  high-priest  rent  his  clothes,  say- 
ing, He  hath  spoken  blasphemy ;  what  further  need  have  we 
of  witnesses  ?     behold,   now   ye   have   heard   his   blasphemy. 


are  left  to  blow  where  they  list,  are  of  expi-ession  to    say,  that    while 

by  the  art  of  man  made  to  propel  Jesus   was   in  the    room  with   the 

the  ship  on  against  their  current,  high-priest,  Peter  was  down  (Karco) 

57.  to  Caiaphas]     "  The  jn  the  court.  64.  sitting 

palace  of  the  high-priest on   the   right  hand  of  power, 

was  situated  between  ^lillo  and  the  and  coming   in  the  clouds  of 

Armory,  on  the  northeastern  slope  heaven]     These  remarkable  words 

of  :Mount   Zion.     As   thus   situated  are  intended  to  describe  the  power 

on  the  declivity,  a  story  below  the  and  majestv  of  Christ  as   it  shall 

chief  suite  of  rooms  Avas  very  nat-  at  length  appear,  even  to  those  Avho 

nral,  and  indeed    almost  miavoida-  now  reject  him.     The  words  "Christ 

ble:  and  this  circumstance  enables  '  cominc,'    '  comincr  in  the  clouds,' 

lis    the    better  to    understand    the  &c.,  not  only  indicate  his  advent  at 

expression   (Mark    xiv.  ^66),^^  Peter  ^  far  distant   period,  but   also   his 

was    beneath    in    the   av\fj"   i,   e.  spiritual    world-historical    manifes- 

the  court  or  hall.     Barclay,  p.  171.  tation."     Neander.  G5. 

Without  regard  to  this  declivity,  the  Then  the   hisrh-priest  rent  his 

court  would  be  a  few  steps  below  clothes  ]      "  they  that  judge    a 

the  floor  of  the  surrounding  rooms,  blasphemer    first    ask    the'  witness 

60  that  it  would  be  a  natural  mode  and  bid  him  speak  plainly  what  he 


476 


MATTHEW    XXVI. 


AVliat  think  ye  ?  They  answered  and  sal^,  He  is  guilty  of  66 
death.  Then  did  they  spit  in  his  face,  and  buffeted  him ;  and  67 
others  smote  him  with  the  palms  of  their  hands,  saying,  Proph-  68 
esy  unto  us,  thou  Christ,  who  is  he  that  smote  thee  ? 

Now  Peter  sat  without  in  the  palace.     And  a  damsel  came  69 
unto  him,  saying,  Thou  also  wast  with  Jesus  of  Galilee.     But  70 
lie  denied  before  them  all,  saying,  I  know  not  what  thou  sayest. 
And  when  he  was  gone  out  into  the  porch,  another  maid  saw  7i 
him,  and  said  unto  them  that  were  there.  This  fellow  was  also 
with  Jesus  of  Nazareth.     And  again  he  denied  with  an  oath,  I  72 
do  not  know  the  man.     And  after  a  while  came  unto  him  they  73 
that  stood  by,  and  said  to  Peter,  Surely  thou  art  also  one  of 
them,  for  thy  speech  bewrayeth  thee.     Then  began  he  to  curse  74 


hath  heard ;  and  when  he  gpeaks  it, 
the  judges,  standing  on  their  feet, 
rend  their  gannents  and  do  not  sew 
them  up  again."  Lightfoot.  Jose- 
phus,  Jewish  Wars,  II.  15.  4. 


70.  But  he  denied]  We  place 
the  difl'erent  accounts  of  Peter's 
denials  side  by  side,  that«  our  read- 
ers may  compare  them :  — 


FIRST    DENIAL. 


And  Peter  eat 
■without  in  the  hall, 
and  a  maid  came  to 
him,  saying.  "  Thou 
also  wast  with  Jesus 
of  Galilee."  But  he 
denied  before  them 
all,  saying,  "I  know 
not  what  thou  say- 
est." And  when  he 
had  gone  out  into 
the  porch, 


MARK  XrV". 

And  as  Peter  was 
down  in  the  hall, 
there  cometh  one 
of  the  maids  of 
the  high-priest;  and 
when  she  saw  Peter 
warming  himself, 
she  lodked  upon  him 
and  said,  "  Thou 
also  wast  with  Jesus 
theNazarene."  But 
he  denied,  saying, 
"  I  know  not,  nei- 
ther understand  I 
what  thou  sayest." 
And  he  went  out 
into  the  porch,  and 
the  cock  crew. 


LUKE  xxn. 

And  when  they 
had  kindled  a  fire  in 
the  midstof  the  hall, 
and  were  set  down 
together,  Peter  sat 
down  among  them. 
But  a  certain  maid 
beheld  him  as  he  sat 
by  the  fire,  and  ear- 
nestly looked  upon 
him,  and  said,  "This 
man  was  also  with 
him."  And  he  de- 
nied, saying,  "  Wo- 
man, I  know  him 
not." 


JOHX  xvm. 

John,  who  was 
known  to  the  high- 
priest,  came  into 
the  hall,  leaving  Pe- 
ter at  the  gate  with- 
out. John  spoke  to 
the  maid  who  kept 
the  gate,  and  she 
brought  Peter  in, 
i.  e.  to  the  hall.  And 
she  saith  to  Peter, 
"  Art  not  thou  also 
one  of  this  man's  dis- 
ciples? "  He  saith, 
"  I  am  not."  And 
the  servants  and  offi- 
cers, having  made 
a  fire  of  coals  be- 
cause it  was  cold, 
stood  there  warm- 
ing themselves,  and 
Peter  was  with 
them,  standing,  and 
warming  himself. 


SECOND   DENIAL. 


another  damsel  saw 
him,  and  saith  to 
those  who  were 
there,  "  This  one 
also  was  with  Jesus 
theNazarene."  And 
again  he  denied  with 
an  oath,  "  I  do  not 
know  the  man." 


And  a  maid  saw|  And  after  a  short  [  They  said,  there- 
him,  and  began  to  time  another  [mas-  fore  to  him,  ''  Art 
say  to  those  stand-  culine  gender]  saw  not  thou  also  one  of 
ing  by,  "  This  is  one  him  and  said,  "Thou  his  disciples?  "  II« 
of  them."     But  he  art  also  of  them."   denied  it,  and  said, 


again  denied  it. 


And      Peter      said, 
'  Man,  I  am  not." 


I  am  not." 


MATTHEW    XX Y I. 


477 


and  to  swear,  saying,  I  know  not  tlie  man.     And  immediately 
75  the  cock  crew.     And  Peter  remembered  the  word  of  Jesus, 


THIRD   DENIAL. 


And  after  a  while ' 
came  unto  him  they 
that  stood  by,  and 
said  to  Peter,  "  Sure- 
ly thou  also  art  one 
of  them  ;  for  thy 
spee<h  makes  thee 
manifest."  Then' 
began  he  to  curse 
and  to  swear,  say- 
ing, "I  know  not 
the  man."  And  im- 
mediately the  cock 
crew.  And  Peter  re- j 
membered  the  wordi 
of  Jesus  which  said 
unto  him.  "  Before 
the  cock  crow,  thou 
Shalt  deny  me 
thrice.  "  And  he 
went  out  and  wept 
bitterly. 


MARK. 

And  a  little  while 
after,  they  that 
stood  by  said  again 
to  Peter,  "  Surely 
thou  art  one  of 
them  ;  for  thou  art 
aGalilsean  "  [and  thy 
speech,  airreet/i  there- 
to, is  not  in  Tischen- 
dorfj.  And  he  be- 
gan to  curse  and  to 
swear,  saying,  "  I 
know  not  this  man 
of  whom  ye  speak." 
And  the  second  time 
a  cock  crew.  And 
Peter  called  to  mind 
the  word  that  Jesus 
said  unto  him,  "  Be- 
fore the  cock  crow 
twice,  thou  shalt 
deny  me  thrice." 
And  rushing  out,  he 
wept. 


At  the  first  reco.^ition  and  denial 
of  Peter,  all  the  Evangelists  agree 
in  stating  that  he  was  in  the  liall, 
and  that  he  was  accosted  by  a  maid. 
Her  manner  of  speaking,  tliough 
differing  slightly  in  the  words  used, 
is  substantially  the  same.  The  vari- 
ations are  only  such  as  we  should 
expect  to  find  in  the  honest  report 
of  the  same  transaction  by  differ- 
ent Avitnesses.  All  the  different  ex- 
pressions here  assigned  by  the  dif- 
ferent writers  to  her  and  to  him 
may  have  been  used.  She  may 
have  asked,  as  in  John,  "  Art  not 
thou  also  one  of  this  man's  dis- 
ciples?" and  when  he  answei'ed,  ''I 
am  not,"  she  may  have  added,  as  in 
Matthew,  "  Surely  thou  Avast  Avith 
Jesus  of  Galilee."  When  Peter 
denied,  saying,  "  I  knoAV  not  Avhat 
thou  sayest,"  she  may  have  repeated 
her  assertion,  Avith  the  slight  A'aria- 
tion  in  Mark,  "  Thou  surely  Avast 
with  Jesus  the  Nazarene;  "  and  he 
would  naturally  meet  the  charge, 
thus  repeated,  Avith  the  still  stronger 
denial,  "  I  knoAv  not,  neither  under- 
stand I  what  thou  sayest."     Then 


JOHX. 

One  of  the  per- 
vants  of  the  high- 
priest  (being  his 
kinsman  whose  ear 
Peter  cut  off  ),  saith 
to  him,  '*  Did  not  I 
see  thee  in  the  gar- 
den with  him  1  " 
Again,  therefore, 
Peter  denied  ;  and 
immediately  a  cock 
crew. 


And  about  the 
space  of  one  hour 
after,  another  [--/-- 
K-;,  masculine]  con- 
fidently affirmed, 
saying,  "  Of  a  truth, 
this  man  also  was 
with  him  ;  for  he  is 
a  Galilean."  And 
Peter  said  "  Man,  I 
know  not  what  thou 
sayest."  And  im- 
mediately, while  he 
was  yet  speaking, 
the  cock  crew.  And 
the  Lord  turned  and 
looked  at  Peter,  and 
Peter  remembered 
the  word  of  the 
Lord,  how  he  had 
said  unto  him,  "  Be- 
fore the  cock  crow, 
thou  shalt  deny  me 
thrice."  And  Peter 
went  out  and  wept 
bitterly. 


the  woman,  looking  earnestly  at  him, 
so  as  to  satisfy  herself  that  it  Avas 
he,  may  have  said,  as  in  Luke,  to 
those  around  her,  "  This  man  cer- 
tainly Avas  Avith  him;"  and  Peter 
in  reply  might  sav,  "  Woman,  I 
knoAV  him  not."  All  the  expres- 
sions Avould  thus  belong  to  one  act 
of  recognition  and  denial.  Such 
repeated  assertions  and  denials  are 
in  themselves  more  probable  than  a 
single  one,  under  the  circumstances. 
Luke  says  that  Peter  Avas  sitting  by 
the  fire  ;  John  says  that  he  Avas 
standing.  Both  the  accounts  may 
have  been  true,  as  nothing  is  more 
probable  than  that  the  parties  should 
haA^e  changed  their  place  and  pos- 
ture during  the  altercation.  At  the 
second  recognition  and  denial  Mat- 
tliCAV  and  ^lark  both  speak  of  Peter 
as  being  in  the  porch  or  passage-Avay. 
JLatt.,  TTvXcDi'a,  a  gatcAvay.  Mark, 
TrpoavXioi/,  AA'hich  exactly  describes 
the  passage  leading  from  the  street  to 
the  hall.  Luke  and  John  say  nothing 
of  Peter's  having  left  the  hall.  Ac- 
cording to  Matthew  and  Mark,  it  was 


478 


MATTHEW   XXVI. 


•which  said  unto  him,  Before  the  cock  crow,  thou  shalt  deny  mo 
thrice.     And  he  went  out,  and  wept  bitterly. 


a  ioo7Jian  who  recognized  and  spoke 
to  him  ("  another  maid,"  Mattliew); 
according  to  Luke,  it  was  a  different 
person  from  the  one  who  at  first 
spoke  to  him,  and  a  man.  John, 
in  using  the  plural  number,  "  they 
said,''''  intimates  that  the  cliarge 
against  Peter  was  made  by  more 
than  one  person,  and  thus  authorizes 
us  to  suppose  that  botli  the  other 
accounts  are  true,  and  that  he  was 
addressed  both  by  a  woman  and  a 
man.  In  the  account  of  the  third 
denial,  no  one  of  the  writers  tells 
where  Peter  was ;  but  it  is  not  im- 
probable that,  after  he  was  dis- 
covered in  the  passage-way,  he  re- 
turned to  the  hall,  and  remained 
there  during  the  considerable  time 
(Luke  says  "about  an  hour")  that 
intervened.  Then  those  who  were 
standing  by  (Matthew  and  Mark) 
recognized  him  by  his  Galilaaan 
dialect.  Luke  says,  that  a  diffei-ent 
person  from  the  "one  who  spoke  to 
him  before,  a  vmn,  charged  him 
with  being  one  of  the  party  who 
had  been  with  Jesus  ;  and  John 
says,  that  a  servant  of  the  high- 
priest,  the  kinsman  of  him  whose 
ear  Peter  cut  off,  said  to  him,  "  Did 
not  I  see  thee  in  the  garden  with 
him?  "  There  is  no  reason  to  sup- 
pose that  this  servant  of  the  high- 
priest  is  the  same  person  mentioned 
by  Luke,  especially  as  the  plural 
number  used  by  Matthew  and  Mark 
intimates  that  several  persons  were 
engaged  in  making  the  charge. 
Peter  replied  to  them,  one  after 
another,  growing  more  excited  as 
the  charge  Avas  repeated,  till  at 
length  his  loud  and  earnest  impre- 
cations attracted  the  attention  of 
Jesus,  who  was  in  a  room  that 
was  open  towards  the  hall  or 
court,  and  just  after  the  cock  crew 
turned  and  looked  on  Peter,  who, 
thus  reminded  of  the  Lord's  words, 
rushed  out  and  Avept  bitterly.  In 
this  way  the  different  accounts  are 
perfectly  harmonized,  except  for 
those  Avho  are  "  slavishly  boimd  to 
the  inspiration  of  the  letter  "  We 
do  not  usually  make  sullicient  al- 


lowance for  what  is  left  out  in  each 
of  the  Gospel  narratives.  We  un- 
justly charge  the  Evangelists  with 
contradicting  one  another,  when  in 
fact  they  are  only  giving  diflFerent 
incidents  connected  with  one  com- 
mon event.  In  this  instance  we 
think  of  three  distinct  charges,  each 
made  by  one  person  in  a  single 
short  sentence,  and  each  replied  to 
by  Peter  in  one  single  expression 
of  denial.  But  it  is  far  more  likely 
that  each  case  of  recognition  would 
lead  to  a  considerable  altercation,  in 
Avhich  the  original  charge  Avould  be 
repeated,  as  it  Avould  also  be  denied, 
in  different  Avords,  and  that  different 
persons  as  they  recognized  Peter 
Avould  add  their  testimony  to  that 
already  given.  Each  of  the  Avritings, 
Avliich  are  draAvn  from  independent 
sources,  and  none  of  them  giving 
an  account  of  all  the  particulars, 
Avould  be  likely  to  bring  out  dif- 
ferent persons  and  expressions. 
Each  one,  therefore,  may  be  regard- 
ed as  supplying  Avhat  is  Avanting  in 
the  others.  By  bringing  together 
the  different  accounts  in  this  Avay, 
we  are  able,  at  least  in  the  case 
before  us,  to  give  a  much  more 
life-like  and  probable  narrative  of 
events  than  in  the  Avay  Avhich  is 
usually  adopted  either  by  the  friends 
or  theenemies  of  the  Gospels.  The 
variations  in  the  accounts  shoAv  that 
the  Avriters  draAv  their  statements 
from  independent  sources,  and  Avith 
such  Avriters  it  must  often  happen 
that,  in  our  ignorance  of  the  details 
familiar  to  them,  Ave  may  find  it  im- 
possible to  reconcile,  as'  Ave  can  in 
this  case,  incidents  Avhich  did  nev- 
ertheless truly  occur.  These  ap- 
parent differences,  says  Alford,  to 
Avhom  Ave  are  indebted  for  impor- 
tant suggestions  here,  Ave  value  "  as 
testimonies  to  independence  :  and 
ai-e  sure,  that  if  for  one  moment 
Ave  could  be  put  ii:  complete  pos- 
session of  all  the  details  as  they 
happened,  each  account  Avould  find 
its  justification,  and  tlie  reasons  of 
all  the  variations  -would  appear." 


MATTHEW  XXVII.  479 


CHAPTER  XXYII. 

Preliminary  Trial  of  Jesus  before  the  Sanhedrim. 

It  is  impossible  even  for  the  ablest  scholars,  with  the 
scanty  means  of  information  which  are  now  within  their 
reach,  to  speak  with  any  confidence  concerning  the  precise 
forms  of  judicial  proceeding  which  were  held  to  be  neces- 
sary among  the  Jews  in  a  case  like  this.  "From  the  time 
when  Archelaus  was  deposed,"  A.  D.  6  or  7,  says  Alford, 
"  and  Judaea  became  a  Roman  province,  it  would  follow  by 
the  Roman  law  that  the  Jews  lost  the  power  of  life  and 
death."  From  Josephus  (Ant.  XX.  9.  1)  it  would  appear 
tliat  the  high-priest  had  no  right  to  assemble  the  Sanhe- 
drim in  a  capital  case  without  permission  from  the  Roman 
governor  or  Procurator.  In  John  xviii.  3 1 ,  the  Jewish  elders 
and  high-priests  say  to  Pilate,  that  they  have  no  legal  right 
to  put  any  one  to  death.  Still,  in  order  to  accomplish  their 
designs  against  Jesus,  it  was  important  that  the  Sanhedrim 
should  go  through  the  customary  forms  of  judicial  investi- 
gation, and  secure  his  condemnation  before  the  highest  Jew- 
ish tribunal,  with  such  a  weight  of  authority  on  their  side 
that  they  might  be  able  to  extort  from  the  Roman  ruler  the 
assent,  without  which  their  own  judicial  decisions  could  not 
be  carried  into  effect.  The  examination  at  the  house  of  the 
high-priest  was  only  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  what  charges 
and  witnesses  could  be  used  against  him  most  effectively  at 
his  trial. 

When,  therefore,  the  morning  (Trpcotas  —  Mark  xiii.  35  — 
the  watch  of  three  hours  which  ended  at  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning)  had  come,  and  the  elders  of  the  people,  the  high- 
priests,  and  scribes  were  gathered  together,  so  as  to  form  a 


480  MATTHEW    XXVII.    3-10. 

legal  Sanhedrim  at  their  room  in  the  vicinity  of  the  temple, 
Jesus  was  taken  up  (Luke  xxii.  66)  from  the  house  of 
Caiaphas  to  the  council-chamber.  It  is  not  improbable 
that  they  had  been  in  session  for  a  considerable  time,  and 
had  already  determined  on  the  course  which  they  were  to 
pursue,  when  Jesus  was  brought  before  them.  Luke  (xxii. 
66-71)  is  the  only  one  of  the  Evangelists  who  gives  any 
account  of  the  proceedings  here,  which  were  little  more  than 
a  repetition  of  what  had  already  taken  place,  and  resulted  in 
a  more  formal  act  of  condemnation.  Being  thus  by  the 
highest  judicial  tribunal  of  his  own  nation  condemned  to 
death,  Jesus  was  bound  and  taken  before  Pilate. 

3-10.  —  Eepentance  and  Death  of  Judas. 

This  account  is  found  only  in  Matthew.  When  Judas 
saw  Jesus  condemned  to  death,  and  delivered  over  to  the 
Roman  power,  he  was  smitten  with  sudden  remorse,  and 
brought  back  to  the  Jewish  rulers  the  thirty  pieces  of  money, 
with  an  acknowledgment  of  his  guilt  in  his  fatal  treachery 
against  innocent  blood.  But  driven  to  desperation  by  their 
cold  and  contemptuous  reply,  he  threw  down  the  money  in 
the  midst  of  the  temple,  and  went  off  and  hanged  himself, 
or  was  choked  to  death  (strangled)  by  the  intensity  of  his 
anguish.  Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  reconcile  this 
account  of  the  death  of  Judas  with  that  which  is  given  in 
Acts  i.  18.  Matthew  says,  he  "strangled  himself,"  the 
natural  meaning  of  which  is,  that  he  "hanged  himself,'* 
though  the  words  may  possibly  be  construed  as  implying 
that  he  died  of  suffocation  from  the  intensity  of  his  emotions. 
In  the  Acts  (i.  18)  it  is  said,  "  falling  headlong,  he  burst 
asunder  in  the  midst,  and  all  his  bowels  gushed  out."  In  the 
notes  may  be  found  some  of  the  explanations  by  which  com- 
mentators have  tried  to  harmonize  these  two  passages.  No 
one  of  them  seems  to  us  perfectly  satisfactory.  We  know 
too  little  of  the  circumstances  and  of  the  language  used,  to 


MATTHEW    XXVII.    11-31.  481 

assert  with  confidence  that  the  two  accounts  directly  contra- 
dict one  another,  or  that  any  explanation  given  is  certainly 
the  true  one.  The  consultation  among  the  priests,  and  the 
purchase  of  the  potter's  field,  probably  took  place  at  a  later 
period,  and  not  on  the  day  of  the  crucifixion. 

11-31.  —  Jesus  before  Pilate. 

It  is  necessary  to  compare  the  Evangelists  carefully  with 
one  another  to  get  a  clear  and  full  account  of  these  transac- 
tions. Matthew  alone,  19,  speaks  of  the  message  sent  to 
Pilate  by  his  wife,  and  of  his  washing  his  hands,  24,  in 
token  of  his  innocency.  Luke  alone  (xxiii.  7-12)  mentions 
the  fact  that  Jesus  was  sent  away  to  Herod.  John  (xix. 
1-13)  enters  more  fully  into  the  state  of  Pilate's  mind,  his 
conversations  with  Jesus,  and  his  repeated  efforts  to  induce 
the  Jews  to  set  him  free. 

While  it  was  yet  early  in  the  morning  (John  xviii.  28) 
Jesus  was  taken  to  the  Prjetorium,  or  hall  of  judgment,  in 
the  tower  of  Antonia,  a  little  north  of  the  temple,  where  he 
stood  before  the  governor.  This  Praetorium  is  the  same  as 
the  hall  (Mark  xv.  16)  or  open  court  in  the  centre  of  the 
building,  while  in  front  of  the  palace  was  apparently  a  wide 
open  space  with  a  tessellated  pavement,  where  Pilate  on  that 
day  placed  his  judgment-seat  (John  xix.  13).  The  Jews 
on  account  of  their  religious  scruples  could  not  enter  the 
court,  lest  it  should  make' them  unclean,  and  unfit  for  the 
feast.  Pilate,  therefore,  several  times  during  the  trial  passed 
back  and  forth  between  the  Jews  in  front  of  the  palace 
and  Jesus,  who,  with  the  Roman  soldiers,  was  in  the  Praeto- 
rium. Two  or  three  times  Jesus  was  taken  out  into  the 
presence  of  the  Jews.  Bearing  these  things  in  mind,  we 
may  get  a  clear  view  of  the  transactions  of  the  morning. 
Jesus  is  brought  into  the  Praetorium  (John  xviii.  28-32). 
Pilate  comes  out  and  asks  the  chief  priests  and  rulers  what 
their  accusation  against  him  is  ?     They  reply,  "  If  he  were 

41  £  E 


482  MATTHEW   XXVII.    11-31. 

not  a  malefactor,  we  should  not  have  delivered  him  up 
unto  thee."  This  vague  form  of  accusation  did  not  suit  the 
Roman  governor's  ideas  of  a  judicial  trial,  and  he  told  them 
that  they  had  better  take  him  and  condemn  him  according 
to  their  lavt^.  They  said,  in  reply,  what  he  undoubtedly 
knew  perfectly  all  the  time,  that  they  had  no  legal  authority 
to  put  any  man  to  death.  Then  they  began  (Luke  xxiii.  2) 
to  accuse  him  of  perverting  the  nation,  of  forbidding  to  give 
tribute  to  Coesar,  and  of  making  himself  to  be  Christ  a  king, 
or  an  anointed  king.  Then  Pilate  went  back  into  the 
Praetorium,  and  had  with  Jesus  the  conversation  which  is 
most  fully  recorded  in  John  xviii.  33  -  38,  —  a  conversation 
which  evidently  produced  a  very  strong  impression  ujDon  his 
mind.  He  then  went  out  to  the  Jews,  probably  taking  Jesus 
with  him,  to  declare  that  he  found  no  fault  in  him.  And 
when  they,  growing  more  urgent,  spoke  of  Jesus  as  begin- 
ning his  work  of  insurrection  in  Galilee  (Luke  xxiii.  5-12), 
Pilate  sent  him  to  Herod,  who  probably  occupied  the  mag- 
nificent palace  built  by  Herod  the  Great,  in  the  western  part 
of  the  city,  near  the  Tower  of  Hippicus.  More  than  an 
hour  probably  intervened  before  Jesus  was  brought  back 
to  the  Praetorium.  Pilate  then  called  the  Jewish  rulers 
together  again,  and  after  asserting  that  neither  he  nor  Herod 
found  any  fault  in  Jesus,  he  proposed  to  set  him  free,  since 
it  had  been  his  custom  always  to  set  some  prisoner  free  at 
this  festival.  Just  at  this  time,  while  he  was  sitting  on  the 
judgment-seat  outside  the  palace,  he  received  a  message 
from  his  wife,  warning  him  to  have  nothing  to  do  "  with  that 
righteous  man  ; "  "  for,"  she  said,  "  I  have  suffered  many 
things  this  day  in  a  dream,  because  of  him."  Her  language 
shows  that  she  must  have  known  the  reputation  which  Jesus 
had  for  purity  and  sanctity.  Her  message  must  have  added 
to  the  perplexity  and  awe  of  Pilate.  For  dreams  were  re- 
garded by  many  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  as  sent  from 
the  gods.  The  classical  reader  will  call  to  mind  the  expres- 
sion of  Homer,    "  for  dreams   are   from   Jupiter,"  and   the 


MATTHEW    XXVII.    32-61.  483 

warning  dream  by  which  Ccesar's  wife  endeavored  to  keep 
him  at  home  on  the  day  when  he  was  assassinated  in  the 
Capitol.  Pilate  redoubled  his  efforts  to  release  Jesus.  But 
the  multitude  had  been  already  persuaded  by  the  chief 
priests  and  elders,  and  only  became  the  more  clamorous  for 
the  blood  of  their  victim.  He  then,  to  express  in  the 
strongest  and  most  solemn  terms  his  sense  of  the  prisoner's 
innocence,  .took  water  and  washed  his  hands  before  the  mul- 
titude, saying,  "  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood  of  this  righteous 
man ;  see  ye  to  it."  And  all  the  people  answered,  "  His 
blood  be  on  us,  and  on  our  children  ; "  —  an  imprecation 
fearfully  and  terribly  fulfilled  in  the  manifold  sufferings  and 
slaughters  which  attended  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  be- 
fore that  generation  had  passed  away.  Pilate  now  gave  him 
up  to  his  soldiers  to  scourge  and  mock  him ;  but  even  then 
(John  xix.  4-  12)  he  tried  again  and  again  to  awaken  their 
compassion.  The  majestic  and  mysterious  bearing  of  his 
prisoner,  the  message  from  his  wife,  and  the  character  of  the 
charges  against  the  prisoner  created  in  him  a  sentiment  of 
awe,  and  perhaps  of  superstitious  fear.  Whether  any,  how- 
ever distant,  perception  of  the  truth  touched  him,  is  not 
shown  by  either  of  the  narratives.  We  have  no  right  to 
judge  him  by  the  Christian  standard,  and  condemn  him  be- 
cause he  did  not  receive  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God.  But  we 
have  a  right  to  judge  him  by  his  own  law,  and  to  condemn 
him,  because,  in  spite  of  the  warnings  and  misgivings  which 
he  had,  he  weakly  and  wickedly,  against  his  own  convic- 
tions, consented  to  condemn  the  prisoner,  in  violation  of  the 
law  by  which  he  was  to  be  judged. 

32  -  61.  —  The  Crucifixion. 

We  come  now  to  the  most  solemn,  the  most  affecting, 
the  most  significant  and  majestic  event  in  the  history  of  our 
race.  Here  is  the  deepest  and  most  touching  expression  of 
God's  love,  stooping  with  infinite  compassion  to  save  man 


484  MATTIIEAV   XXVII.    C2-61. 

from  sin  and  the  misery  consequent  upon  it.  "We  shrink 
from  interrupting  the  account  by  any  critical  remarks,  and 
give  the  narrative  as  we  find  it  in  the  four  Evangelists,  re- 
serving our  comments  for  the  notes  at  the  end  of  the  chapter. 

Jesus,  being  worn  down  by  the  sorrows  and  watchings  of 
the  night,  and  the  indignities  and  sufferings  to  which  he  was 
subjected  after  his  apprehension,  especially  the  scourging 
which  had  just  been  administered,  the  cross  was  bound  upon 
his  shoulders,  and  a  little  before  the  third  hour,  or  nine  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  he  went  bearing  his  own  cross  with  pain,  as 
the  expression  (John  xix.  17)  seems  to  intimate,  towards  a 
place  called  Golgotha.  A  man  named  Simon,  a  Cyrenian, 
who  had  come  in  from  the  country,  having  shown  probably 
some  marks  of  pity  for  the  sufferer,  was  compelled  to  hft  up 
the  end  of  the  cross,  and,  perhaps  without  materially  light- 
ening the  Saviour's  burden,  was  made  to  share  the  insults 
and  mockery  that  were  heaped  upon  him.  This  Cyrenian, 
however,  was  not  the  only  one  who  sympathized  with  him 
in  his  sorrows.  In  the  midst  of  that  scoffing  multitude  who 
were  howling  after  him,  and  making  him  the  butt  of  their 
impious  jests,  was  a  great  number  of  people,  especially  of 
women,  who  were  lamenting  and  bewailing  him.  Jesus 
turned  towards  them,  and,  thinking  of  the  terrible  ca- 
lamities which  were  to  fall  on  them  and  their  children 
(Luke  xxiii.  28),  he  said,  "  Daughters  of  Jerusalem  !  weep 
not  for  me  ;  but  weep  for  yourselves  and  for  your  children." 

In  a  short  time  their  mournful  journey  was  finished,  and 
they  reached  the  spot  whose  name  must  always  be  sacred  in 
the  thoughts  and  afi'ections  of  the  Christian  world.  There 
they  crucified  him,  having  previously  stripped  him  of  his 
garments  and  offered  him  a  stupefying  potion,  which,  when 
he  had  tasted  it,  he  refused  to  drink.  Either  at  the  moment 
when  they  were  driving  the  nails  through  his  hands  and  his 
feet,  or  at  the  moment  of  excruciating  anguish  when  the 
cross,  with  his  body  nailed  to  it,  reaching  an  upright  position, 
sunk  down  with  a  shock  into  the  hole  prepared  for  it  in  the 


^^  ^  MATTHEW   XXVII.    32  -  61.  485 

earth,  the  sharp  and  sudden  agony  wrenched  from  him,  as 
in  a  shriek,  the  cry,  his  first  utterance  on  the  cross,  "  Father ! 
forgive  them  ;  for  they  know  not  wliat  they  are  doing." 
Now  the  cruel  and  blasphemous  acts  of  mockery  and  scorn 
were  renewed,  Jewish  priests  and  Roman  soldiers,  rulers 
and  people  alike,  wagging  their  heads  as  they  passed  by, 
and  scoffing  at  him  and  his  sufferings.  Even  one  of  the  two 
malefactors  who  were  crucified  with  him,  one  on  either  side, 
joined  in  the  revilings,  and  said  scoffing  (Luke  xxiii.  39), 
"  If  thou  art  the  Christ,  save  thyself  and  us."  But  the  other, 
subdued  by  what  he  had  seen  of  divine  benignity  in  Jesus, 
after  rebuking  his  companion,  said  to  Jesus,  "  Remember 
me,  when  thou  comest  in  thy  kingdom."  Jesus,  moved  with 
compassion  towards  him,  said,  and  this  was  his  second  ut- 
terance on  the  cross,  "  Verily  I  say  unto  thee,  To-day 
shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise." 

The  long  hours  of  torture  passed.  Near  the  cross  where 
he  hung  helpless  and  submissive  in  his  agony  stood  (John 
xix.  25)  Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus,  and  her  sister,  and 
Mary  the  wife  of  Clopas,  and  Mary  Magdalene.  When 
Jesus,  therefore,  saw  his  mother  and  the  disciple  whom  he 
loved  standing  by  her,  he  said  to  his  mother  (this  was  his 
third  utterance  on  the  cross),  "  Woman,  behold  thy  son," 
and  to  the  disciple,  "  Behold  thy  mother."  "  Everything 
which  she  had  experienced  in  the  happiest  part  of  her  life 
had  now  become  darkened  to  her ;  doubts  agitated  her," 
and  unable  to  bear  longer  a  sight  so  full  of  anguish,  which, 
turning  her  hopes  into  despair,  pierced  as  a  sword  through 
her  soul,  she  allowed  herself  to  be  taken  away,  "  and  from 
that  hour  the  disciple  took  her  to  his  own  home." 

It  was  noonday,  when  darkness  overspread  all  the  land, 
and  continued  for  three  hours.  The  sufferings  on  the  cross 
now  reached  their  sharpest  and  most  dreadful  extremity. 
There  is  no  record  of  any  word  that  was  spoken,  or  of  any 
act  or  sound  to  break  the  terrible  stillness  of  the  scene.  For 
three    hours   forward   from   that   awful    moment   when   at 

41* 


486  MATTHEW    XXVII.    32-61. 

noonday  the  unearthly  darkness  began,  so  far  as  we  can 
learn,  "  not  a  word  of  derision  is  heard  all  around  the  cross. 
All  is  hushed  into  absolute  silence."  The  angry  passions  of 
men  subside.  They  gaze  through  the  darkness  in  fear  and 
wonder.  "  Jesus  is  silent ;  the  sufferings  he  endured  at  the 
hands  of  men  now  give  place  to  more  painful  inward  suffer- 
ings. The  darkening  of  the  heavens  accompanies  and  ex- 
presses the  dreadful  darkness  that  prevails  in  the  soul  itself 
of  the  suffering  Saviour,"  when  those  around  are  suddenly 
startled  by  the  agonizing  cry,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast 
thou  forsaken  me  ?  "  But  why  this  cry  as  of  utter  desolation 
and  despair?  How  could  God  leave  his  beloved  Son  so 
unsustained  in  the  moment  of  his  keenest  anguish?  It  is 
not  for  us  to  comprehend  all  the  -wonders  and  mysteries  of 
the  Divine  mercy  in  the  great  work  of  our  redemption.  The 
sufferings  of  the  righteous  at  all  times,  but  most  of  all  the 
sufferings  of  the  Son  of  God,  in  their  relation  to  the  sins  of 
the  world,  are,  so  far  as  we  are  concerned,  among  the  secret 
things  of  the  Most  High.  They  have  indeed  a  most  affect- 
ing significance.  They  show  the  personal  sympathy  of 
Jesus  with  the  keenest  pangs  of  conflict,  or  of  pain  and 
despair,  that  can  ever  rend  our  hearts,  and  indicate  to  us 
how  we,  through  the  victory  which  he  has  gained,  may 
triumph  over  them.  But  we  cannot  tell  how  far  his  suf- 
ferings were  essential  to  our  salvation  in  their  influence  on 
the  counsels  of  God.  The  mighty  train  of  causes  and  effects 
in  God's  spiritual  kingdom,  reaching  up  through  the  highest 
heavens  and  down  through  all  the  depths  of  sin  and  its 
attendant  sorrows,  must  be  involved  in  mystery  to  us.  We 
cannot  comprehend  in  all  the  fulness  of  their  meaning  these 
highest  moments  in  God's  dealings  with  man,  when  in  the 
hidings  of  his  power  he  is  bringing  to  a  crisis  those  vast 
designs,  w^hich,  in  working  out  the  redemption  of  our  race, 
reach,  we  know  not  how  far,  into  the  infinite  realms  of  being. 
Such  a  moment  it  was  that  heard  from  the  cross  the  cry  of 
anguish  and  desolation  which  has  pierced  the  heart  of  the 
world,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  " 


MATTHEW    XXVII.   32  -  61.  487 

These  words  of  Jesus,  liis  fourth  utterance  upon  the  cross, 
were  misunderstood  by  tliose  around  him.  But  there  were 
no  marks  of  levity  or  contempt.  It  would  seem  as  if  even 
those  who  came  to  scoff  at  his  sufferings  had  been  subdued, 
or  at  least  silenced,  by  the  solemnity  of  the  scene.  Imme- 
diately afterwards  Jesus,  moved  by  what  is  said  to  be  the 
severest  physical  suffering  of  those  who  die  by  that  painful 
death,  said,  "I  thirst."  A  sponge  filled  with  vinegar  was 
raised  to  his  mouth,  and  when  he  had  received  it,  he  said, 
"  It  is  finished."  The  great  work  which  he  came  into  the 
world  to  accomplish  was  now  done.  He  had  drained  to  its 
dregs  the  cup  which  his  Father  had  given  him  to  drink. 
The  agony  was  over.  And  with  his  seventh  and  last  utter- 
ance, "  Father,  into  thy  hands  I  commend  my  spirit,"  he 
bowed  his  head  and  gave  up  the  ghost.  "  And,  behold,  the 
veil  of  the  temple  was  rent  in  twain  from  the  top  to  the 
bottom ;  and  the  earth  did  quake,  and  the  rocks  rent ;  and 
the  graves  were  opened,  and  many  bodies  of.  the  saints  which 
slept  arose,  and  came  out  of  the  graves  after  his  resurrec- 
tion." And  "  when  the  centurion,  and  they  that  were  with 
him,  watching  Jesus,  saw  the  earthquake  and  those  things 
that  were  done,  they  feared  greatly,  and  said,  '  Truly  this  was 
a  son  of  God'"  (literally,  '  a  God's  son').  "  Certainly,  this 
was  a  righteous  man."  And  all  the  multitudes  who  had 
come  out  with  angry  and  revengeful  feelings,  demanding  his 
life,  and  making  a  mock  of  his  sufferings,  when  they  saw 
the  things  which  had  come  to  pass  (Luke  xxiii.  48),  smote 
their  breasts  and  turned  sorrowfully  away  from  what  their 
own  malice  or  excited  passions  had  helped  to  accomplish. 
Joseph  of  Arimathea,  a  rich  man,  went  hastily  to  Pilate,  and 
begged  the  body  of  Jesus.  He  then,  with  the  assistance  of 
Nicodemus,  who  brought  about  a  hundred  pounds  of  a  mix- 
ture of  myrrh  and  aloes  (John  xix.  39),  prepared  the  body 
for  burial,  and  interred  it  in  his  own  new  sepulchre,  which 
he  had  hewn  out  in  a  garden  adjoining  the  spot  where  Jesus 
had  been  crucified.     And  the  women  who  had  come  from 


488  MATTHEW   XXVII.    62  -  G6. 

Galilee,  Mary  Magdalene  and  the  other  Mary,  were  there, 
over  against  the  sepulchre,  seeing  the  tomb  and  how  the 
body  was  laid.  "  And  now  in  the  tomb  lay  the  holiest  beinir 
the  earth  had  ever  seen  —  dead,  —  a  terrible  symbol  of  the 
universal  death  of  man,  —  an  image  of  utter,  remediless 
despair,  —  a  scene  to  darken  the  earth.  Then  the  powers 
of  darkness  seemed  to  have  triumphed.  Selfish  ambition, 
cruelty,  rage,  hate,  still  remained  on  the  earth ;  but  the  Holy 
One  was  gone  from  it.  Then  might  the  powers  of  darkness 
have  looked  out  from  the  clouds,  and  proclaimed,  '  It  is  the 
hour  of  our  triumph ;  henceforth  the  earth  is  ours.' "  E. 
Peabody. 

62-66.  —  Precautions  against  his  Resurrection. 

There  is  a  little  difficulty  in  this  passage.  If  the  Apostles 
so  utterly  failed  to  understand  the  words  of  Jesus  that  they 
had  no  expectation  of  his  resurrection,  how  could  his  enemies 
have  had  any  such  idea  in  their  minds  ?  The  words  an- 
nouncing his  resurrection  after  three  days,  had  been  spoken 
by  him,  and  repeated  by  his  disciples.  The  greatness  of 
the  fact  foretold  prevented  their  understanding  the  plain  and 
literal  meaning  of  the  words  they  had  heard  and  reported. 
But  when  the  priests  and  rulers  saw  that  the  body  of  Jesus 
was  in  the  hands  of  his  friends,  they  recalled  to  mind  these 
words,  and  seeing  what  their  obvious  and  literal  meaning 
was,  they,  with  the  keenness  of  religious  bigots,  suspected 
some  trick  on  the  part  of  the  disciples,  and  therefore  applied 
to  the  governor  to  allow  them  to  take  the  precautions  which 
would  render  any  such  imposition  as  they  feared  impractica- 
ble. The  stone,  therefore,  was  sealed,  and  a  guard  was  set. 
But  the  very  precautions  which  they  had  taken  turned 
against  them.  The  very  measures  which  they  had  adopted 
to  expose  the  cheat  which  they  suspected,  served  only  to 
confirm  the  truth,  against  which  they  had  set  themselves. 


MATTHEW   XXVII. 


489 


NOTES. 

When  the  morning  was  come,  all  tlie  chief  priests  and  elders 
of  the  people  took  counsel  against  Jesus,  to  put  him  to  death. 

2  And  when  they  had  bound  him,  they  led  him  away  and  de- 
livered him  to  Pontius  Pilate  the  governor. 

3  Then  Judas,  which  had  betrayed  him,  when  he  saw  that  he 
was  condemned,  repented  himself,  and  brought  again  the  thirty 

4  pieces  of  silver  to  the  chief  priests  and  elders,  saying,  I  have 
sinned  in  that  I  have  betrayed  the  innocent  blood.     And  they 

5  said,  What  is  that  to  us  ?  see  thou  to  that.     And  he  cast  down 
the  pieces  of  silver  in  the  temple,  and  departed,  and  went  and 

6  hanged   himself. And   the   chief  priests   took   the    silver 


2.  and  delivered  him  to 
Pontius  Pilate  the  govern- 
or] Very  little  is  known  of  Pilate 
beyond  what  we  find  in  the  Gos- 
pels. He  was  not  properly  gov- 
ernor of  Judaea,  but  only  the  Pro- 
curator or  deputy-governor,  aud 
was  subject  to  the  Proconsul  of 
Syria,  who  resided  at  Cicsarea.  In 
the  thirteenth  year  of  Tiberius, 
A.  D.  26,  he  came  to  Judaea  as  the 
successor  of  Valerius  Gratus.  Jo- 
sephus,  Ant.  XVIII.  2.  2.  He  is  bare- 
ly mentioned  by  Tacitus  as  Procu- 
rator when  Christ  was  punished. 
(Ann.  XV.  44.)  Josephus  speaks  of 
him,  Ant.  XVIII.  3. 1,  in  a  way  that 
shows  the  weakness  of  his  charac- 
ter, and  afterwards,  in  that  and  the 
following  chapters,  he  speaks  of 
him  as  engaged  in  transactions 
which  indicate  the  timidity  and 
ra'^hness,  the  sensibility  and  cru- 
elty, which  are  not  unfrequently 
combined  in  the  same  person. 
After  having  been  in  Judaea  ten 
vears  he  was  sent  to  Kome  by 
Vitellius,  governor  of  Syria,  to  an- 
swer for  his  condiict  to  the  Emperor 
Tiberius,  but  that  crafty  and  malig- 
nant tyrant  was  dead  before  he 
reached  Rome.  According  to  Euse- 
bius  (Hist.  Eccl.  II.  7),  the  tradition 
was  that  in  the  reign  of  Caligula 
Pilate  fell  into  such  misfortunes 
that  he  "  from  necessity  destroyed 
himself,  and  with  his  own  hand  be- 


came the  avenger,  as  it  seemed,  of 
the  divine  justice  which  at  no  dis- 
tant interval  followed  after  him." 

4.  have  betrayed  the  in- 
nocent blood]  This  means,  not 
merely  that  he  had  beti-ayed  an  in- 
nocent man,  but  that  he  had  betrayed 
him  to  death.  What  is  that^to 
us?  see  thou  to  that.]  ^Nothing 
could  be  more  cool  and  contemptu- 
ous. They  had  used  the  traitor,  and 
now  had  nothing  moi'e  to  do  with  him. 
His  guilt  and  anguish  were  his  con- 
cern, not  theirs.  The  fewness  of  the 
words  that  they  were  willing  to 
spend  upon  him  added  to  the  fatal 
poignancy  of  their  sting.  5. 

Aud  he  cast  down  the  pieces 
of  silver  in  the  temple]  eV  rw 
vaa.  This  word  does  not  apply  to 
the  temple  enclosures,  but  to  the 
holy  temple  itself,  into  which  none 
but  the  priests  were  permitted  to 
enter.  It  is  then  an  indication  of 
the  utter  confusion  and  desperation 
into  which  the  mind  of  Judas  was 
thrown,  that  he  should  rush  in  there 
to  throw  down  from  his  guilty  hands 
the  price  of  blood.  and 

went  and  hanged  himself] 
Alford,  in  his  commentary  on  Acts 
i.  18,  says:  "It  is  obvious .  that, 
while  the  general  term  used  by 
Matthew  points  mainly  at  self- 
murder,  the  account  given  here  fin 
Acts]  does  not  preclude  the  catas- 


490 


MATTHEW    XXVII. 


pieces,  and  said,  It  is  not  lawful  for  to  put  them  into  the 
treasury,  because  it  is  the  price  of  blood.      And  they  took  7 
counsel,   and   bought  with  them  the   potter's  field,   to   bury 


trophe  related  having  happened,  in 
some  way,  as  a  Divine  judgment, 
during  the  suicidal  attempt.  Further 
than  this,  with  our  present  knowl- 
edge, we  cannot  go.  An  accurate 
acquaintance  uith  Uie  actual  circum- 
stances would  account  for  the  dis- 
crepancy, but  nothing  else."  01s- 
hausen,"  after  speaking  with  sevei*- 
ity  of  the  forced  interpretations  by 
which  the  two  passages  have  been 
reconciled,  adds :  "  Yet  we  must 
confess  that  the  accounts  may  be  so 
connected  as  to  permit  the  conjec- 
ture that  Judas  hanged  himself,  and, 
falling  down,  was  so  injured  that  his 
bowels  gushed  out."  Prof.  Hackett, 
whose  learning  and  candor  cannot 
easily  be  called  in  question,  adopts 
this  conjecture  as  not  unreasonable. 
In  his  '•  Illustrations  of  Scripture," 
pp.  266,  267,  he  says:  "  We  have  no 
certain  knowledge  as  to  the  mode  in 
which  we  are  to  combine  the  two 
statements,  so  as  to  connect  the  ^ct 
of  suicide  with  Avhat  happened  to 
the  body.  Interpreters  have  sug- 
gested that  Judas  may  have  hung 
himself  on  a  tree  near  a  precipice 
over  the  valle}^  of  Hinnom,  and  that, 
the  limb  or  rope  breaking,  he  fell 
to  the  bottom,  and  was  dashed  to 
pieces  by  the  fall.  For  myself,  I 
felt,  as  I  stood  in  the  valley,  and 
looked  up  to  the  rocky  terraces 
which  hang  over  it,  that  the  pro- 
posed  explanation  was  a  perfectly 

natural  one I  measured  the 

precipitous,  almost  perpendicular 
walls,  in  different  places,  and  found 
the  height  to  be,  variously,  forty, 
thirty-six,  thirty-three,  thirty,  and 
twenty-five  feet.  Olive-trees  still 
grow  quite  near  the  edge  of  these 
rocks,  and,  no  doubt,  in  former 
times  they  were  still  more  numer- 
ous in  the  same  place.  A  rocky 
pavement  exists  also  at  the  bottom 
of  the  precipices;  and  hence,  on 
that  account,  too,  a  person  Avho 
should  fall  from  above  would  l)e  lia- 
])le  to  be  crushofi  :ni<l  mnngled,  as 
well   as   killed.      The   traitor    may- 


have  stnxck,  in  his  fall,  upon  some 
pointed  rock,  which  entered  the 
body,  and  caused  his  bowels  to 
gush  out."  Lightfoot's  summary 
method  of  dealing  with  the  matter 
may  interest  ratlier  than  instruct 
the  reader.  "Interpreters,"  says 
he,  "  take  a  great  deal  of  pains  \o 
make  these  words  agree  Avith  his 
hanging  himself;  but,  indeed,  all 
Avill  not  do.  I  know  the  word 
dnriy^aTo  is  commonly  applied  to 
a  man's  hanging  himself,  but  not  to 
exclude  some  other  way  of  stran- 
gling. And  I  cannot  but  take  the 
story  (with  good  leave  of  antiquity) 
in  this  sense:  After  Judas  had 
thrown  down  the  money,  the  price 
of  his  treason,  in  the  temple,  and 
was  now  returning  again  to  his 
mates,  the  devil,  who  dwelt  in 
him,  caught  him  up  on  high,  stran- 
gled him,  and  threw  him  down 
headlong,  so  that,  dashing  upon  the 

ground,  he  burst  in  the  midst 

This  agrees  very  well  with  the 
deserts  of  the  Avicked  wretch,  and 
with  the  title  of  Iscariot  [i.  e.  one 
who  perished  by  sh-angling].  The 
wickedness  he  had  committed  was 
above  all  example ;  and  the  punish- 
ment he  suffered  was  beyond  all 
precedent."  6.  into  the 

treasury]  "  Kop^avas  is  the  sacred 
trensure  of  the  temple,  which  Avas 
kept  in  scA'en  chests,  called  tnim- 
pets.  Comp.  Mark  vii.  11."  01s- 
hausen.  7.  to  bury 

strau§-ers  in]  Not  foreigners,  but 
JcAvs  Avho  were  strangers  there. 

the  potter's  field]  "  The 
Aceldama,  or  field  of  blood,  A\^hich 
Avas  purchased  Avith  his  money, 
trniiition  has  placed  on  the  Hill  of 
Evil  Council.  It  may  haA'e  been  in 
that  quarter,  at  least,  for  the  field 
belonged  originally  to  a  potter,  and 
argillaceous  clay'  is  still  fotmd  in 
the  neighborhood.  A  Avorkman  in 
a  potterA'  Avhich  I  AMsited  at  .Tenisa- 
lem  said  that  all  their  claA'  Avas 
obtained  from  tlie  liill  over  the  A'al- 


MATTHEW    XXVII. 


491 


8  strangers  in.     Wherefore  that  field  was  called,  The  field  of 

9  blood,  unto  this  day.  Then  was  fulfilled  that  which  was 
spoken  by  Jeremy  the  prophet,  saying,  "  And  they  took  the 
thirty  pieces  of  silver,  the  price  of  him  that  was  valued,  whom 

10  they  of  the  children  of  Israel  did  value,  and  gave  tuem  lor  the 
potter's  field,  as  the  Lord  appointed  me." 

11  And  Jesus  stood  before  the  governor ;  and  the  governor 
asked  him,  saying.  Art  thou  the  king  of  the  Jews  ?     And  Jesus 

12  said  unto  him,  Thou  sayest.     And  when  he   was  accused  of 

13  the  chief  priests  and  elders,  he  answered  nothing.  Then  saitli 
Pilate  unto  him,  Hearest  thou  not  how  many  things  they  wit- 

14  ness  against  thee  ?     And  he  answered  liim  to  never  a  word ; 

15  insomuch  that  the  governor  marvelled  greatly.  Now  at  that 
feast,  the  governor  was  wont  to  release  unto  the  people  a  pris- 

16  oner,  whom  they  would.     And  they  had  then  a  notable  prls- 
16  oner,  called  Barabbas.     Therefore,  when  they  were  gathered 

together,  Pilate  said  unto  them.  Whom  will  ye  that  I  release 

18  unto  you  ?  Barabbas,  or  Jesus,  which  is  called  Christ  ?     For 

19  he  knew  that  for  envy  they  had  delivered  him. ^Vhen  he 


ley  of  Hinnom."  Hackett's  III.  of 
Scrip.,  p.  267.  8.  The 

field  of  blood,  unto  this  day] 

This  indicates  that  the  Gospel  was 
written  a  considerable  time  after- 
wards. Matthew  saj's  it  was  called 
"  the  field  of  blood  "  because  it  had 
been  bought  with  the  price  of  blood ; 
while  in  Acts  it  is  said  to  have  been 
so  called  on  account  of  the  wretch- 
ed death  of  Judas,  —  not  a  contra- 
dictoiy,  "but  a  concurrent  reason, 
showing  that  the  ill-omened  name 
could  be  used  with  a  double  em- 
phasis." 9.  Then  was 
fulfilled  that  which  was  spo- 
ken by  Jeremy  the  prophet] 
Ko  such  passage  as  the  one  here 
qnoted  is  to  be  found  in  Jeremiah. 
A  passage,  not  identical,  but  bear- 
ing a  strong  resemblance  to  it,  is 
found  in  Zechariah  xi.  13,  14. 
How  is  this  to  be  accounted  for? 
"  The  simplest  solution  of  the 
difficulty,"  savs  Olshausen,  "  is  to 
suppose  that  the  Evangelist  mistook 
the  name  of  the  prophet,  or  'that 
the  Oiirliest  tratisrribers  might  have 
read  some  coutruction  for  the  name 


falsely;  or  perhaps  that  there  Avas  no 
name  at  all  there  at  first,  and  that 
some  transcriber  supplied  its  want 
erroneously."  The  passage  in  Zech- 
ariah, very  different  from  that  which 
is  here  quoted,  is  thus  rendei-ed  by 
Dr.  Noyes :  "  And  they  weighed  for 
my  wages  thii-ty  shekels  of  silver. 
And  Jehovah  said  to  me,  Cast  it  into 
the  treasury,  the  goodly  price  at 
which  I  was  valued  by  them.  And 
I  took  the  thirty  shekels  of  silver, 
and  cast  them  into  the  house  of 
.Jehovah,  into  the  treasury."  It  is 
impossible  for  us  to  see  in  this  ac- 
count anything  more  than  an  inci- 
dental similarity  to  some  of  the 
facts  connected  with  the  treachery 
of  Judas.  It  can  in  no  sense  be  re- 
garded as  a  prophecy  of  the  events 
described  by  Matthew.  16, 

17.  According  to  Tischendoi-f,  these 
verses  should  read  thus:  "  And  they 
had  then  a  notable  prisoner,  called 
Jesus  Barabbas.  Therefore,  when 
thev  were  gathered  together,  Pilate 
said  unto  them,  "  Which  shall  I  re- 
lease unto  you,  Jesus  l?arabbas,  or 
Jesus  who  is  called  Christ?"     The 


402 


MATTHEW    XXVII. 


was  set  down  on  the  judgment-seat,  liis  wife  sent  unto  him, 
saying,  Have  thou  nothing  to  do  with  that  just  man ;  for  I 
have  suffered  many  things  tliis  day  in  a  dream  because  of  him. 

But  the  chief  priests  and  elders  i>ersuaded  tlie  multitude  20 

that   they   should    ask    Barabbas,    and    destroy   Jesus.      The  21 
governor    answered   and    said   unto   them,    Whether   of   the 
twain  will  ye  that  I  release  unto  you  ?     They  said,  Barabbas. 
Pilate   saith   unto  them,  What  shall  I  do   then  with   Jesus,  22 
which  is  called  Christ  ?     They  all  say  unto  him,  Let  him  be 
ci-ucified.     And  the  governor  said.  Why  ?  what  evil  hath  he  23 
done  ?     But  they  cried  out  the  more,  saying.  Let  him  be  cru- 
cified.    When  Pilate  saw  that  he  could  prevail  nothing,  but  24 
that  rather  a  tumult  was  made,  he  took  water,  and  washed  his 
hands  before  the  multitude,  saying,  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood 
of  this  just  person  ;  see  ye  to  it.     Then  answered  all  the  peo-  25 
pie,  and  said,  His  blood  be  on  us,  and  on  our  children.     Then  26 
released  he  Barabbas  unto  them ;  and  when  he  had  scourged 


best  ci-itics,  however,  do  not  approve 
of  this  as  the  true  reading.  19. 

when  he  was  set  down  on  the 
judgment-seat]  This  judgment- 
seat  (John  xix.  13)  Avas  outside  of 
the  palace  or  fortress,  on  the  pave- 
ment. The  tower  or  fortress  of  An- 
tonia,  where  Pilate  sat  in  judgment, 
was  situated  on  the  north  side  of 
the  grounds  occupied  by  the  tem]:>le, 
and  took  up  a  space  nearly  or  quite 
as  large  as  that  which  was  set  apm-t, 
within  the  sacred  enclosures,  for 
the  temple.  The  Antonia  enclosure 
measured,  south,  975  feet ;  east,  710 ; 
north,  1030;  west,  730.  Barclav, 
p.  245.  23.  Let  him  be 

crucified]  This  punishment  was 
chiefly  inflicted  on  slaves  and  the 
worst  kind  of  malefactors.  ( Juv.  VI. 
219;  Hor.  Sat.  I.  3.  82.)  The  crim- 
inal, after  sentence  pronounced,  car- 
ried his  cross  to  the  place  of  execu- 
tion; a  custom  mentioned  by  Plu- 
tarch (De  Tard.  Dei  Vind".)  and 
Artemidorus  (Oneir.  II.  61)  as  well 
as  in  the  Gospels.  From  Livy 
(XXXIII.  36)  and  Valerius  Maximus 
(I.  7)  scourging  appears  to  have 
formed  a  part  of  this  as  of  otlier 
capital  punishments  among  the  Ro- 
mans. The  scourging  of  our  Sav- 
iour, however,  is  not  to  be  regai*ded 


in  this  light,  for  it  was  inflicted  be- 
fore the  sentence  was  pronounced, 
i\ni  Avas  done  by  Pilate  with  the 
hope  of  thus  satisfying  the  ven- 
geance of  the  Jews  without  the  cru- 
cifixion which  they  had  demanded. 
The  criminal  was  next  stripped  of 
his  clothes,  and  nailed  or  bound  to 
the  cross.  The  latter  was  the  more 
painful  method,  as  the  sufferer  was 
left  to  die  of  hunger.  The  body 
was  not  supported  by  the  nails,  but 
by  a  piece  of  wood  which  passed 
between  the  legs.  Instances  are 
recorded  of  persons  who  survived 
nine  days.  Smith's  Greek  and  Ro- 
man Aiit.  24.  he  took 
water,  and  washed  his  hands] 
"  The  Avashing  of  hands,  to  betoken 
innocence  from  blood-guiltiness,  is 
prescribed  Dent.  xxi.  6-9,  and 
Pilate  uses  it  here  as  intelligible  to 
the  Jews."  Alford.  Pilate,  having 
now  resided  in  Judasa  seven  years, 
must  have  become  well  acquainted 
Avith  JcAA-ish  customs.  26. 
Then  released  he  Barabbas] 
"  One  Avho  Avas  moreoA'er  guilty  of 
that  very  crime  (treason)  of  Avhich 
Jesus  Avas  accused ;  nny,  CA'cn  guilty 
of  a  Avorse  crime.  HoAveA-er,  it  Avas 
by  the  death  of  Him  Avho  Avas  the 
Just  One,  that  those  very  persons 


MATTHEW    XXVII. 


493 


27  Jesus,  he  delivered  him  to  be  crucified. Then  the  soldiers 

of  the  governor  took  Jesus  into  the  common  hall,  and  gathered 

28  unto  him  the  whole  band  of  soldiers.     And  they  stripped  him, 

29  and  put  on  him  a  scarlet  robe.  And  when  they  had  platted  a 
crown  of  thorns,  they  put  it  upon  his  head,  and  a  reed  in  his 
right  hand  ;  and  they  bowed  the  knee  before  him,  and  mocked 

30  him,  saying,  Hail,  King  of  the  Jews  !     And  they  spit  upon 

31  him,  and  took  the  reed,  and  smote  him  on  the  head.  And  after 
that  they  had  mocked  him,  they  took  the  robe  off  from  him, 
and  put  his  own  raiment  on  him ;  and  led  him  away  to  cru- 
cify him. 

32  And  as  they  came  out,  they  found  a  man  of  Cyrene,  Simon 


who  had  deserved  death  ai-e  set 
free."    Bengel.  and  when 

he  had  scourg:ed  Jesus,  he  de- 
livered  him    to    be    crucified] 

This  passage  may  be  taken  as  a 
specimen  of  the  manner  in  which 
events,  which  were  in  fact  sepa- 
rated by  intervening  incidents,  are 
brought  together  in  a  condensed 
narrative,  as  if  one  had  grown  im- 
mediately out  of  the  other.  Be- 
tween the  scourging  of  Jesus  and 
his  being  given  up  to  be  crucified, 
according  to  John  xix.  4-16,  Pihite 
had  a  private  interview  with  Jesus, 
and  more  than  once  tried  to  per- 
suade the  Jews  to  release  him. 

27.  the  whole  band] 
(TTcdpav,  a  cohort,  the  tenth  part  of 
a  legion,  about  600.  The  word 
whole  is  not  to  be  pi-essed.  Alford. 
28.  a  scarlet  robe]  Mark 
(xv,  17)  and  John  (xix.  2)  say  jnir- 
ple.  The  two  words  were  probably 
used  indiscriminately  to  express  the 
color  adapted  to  royalty.  In  Rev. 
xvii.  4,  the  two  words  ai-e  used  to- 
gether. "  And  the  Avoman  was  ar- 
rayed in  purple  and  scarlet  color  " 

29.  a  crown  of  thorns] 
''  The  acanthus  itself,"  says  Alford, 
*'  with  its  large  succulent  leaves,  is 
singularly  unfit  for  such  a  piirpose ; 
as  is  the  plant  with  very  long  sharp 
thorns,  commonly  known  as  Spina 
Christi,  being  a  brittle  acacia.  Some 
flexile  shrub  or  plant  must  be  under- 
stood. Hasselquist,  a  Swedish  nat- 
uralist, supposes  a  very  common 
plant,  naba  or  nubka  of  the  Arabs, 
42   . 


with  many  small  and  sharp  spines ; 
soft,  round,  and  pliant  branches; 
leaves  much  resembling  ivy,  of  a 
very  deep  green,  as  if  in  designed 
mockery  of  a  victor's  wreath." 

and  mocked  him]  This 
mockery  and  personal  abuse  were 
three  times  inflicted:  1.  at  the  ex- 
amination before  the  Sanhedrim 
(xxvi.  67);  2.  when  he  was  sent  to 
Herod  ( Luke  xxiii.  11);  and,  3.  here 
by  the  Roman  soldiers. 
32.  "  Jesus  is  led  towaixls  Golgotha. 
St.  Matthew  gives  the  outline  only: 
They  found  a  man  of  Cyrene,  Sinion 
by  name  :  him  they  cumpelkd  to  bear 
his  cross.  St.  Mark  (xv.  21)  adds 
to  this  a  woi'd  which  seems  to  put 
the  living  scene  before  your  eyes:  a 
man  icho  icas  passing  6y  (thai  very 
place);  and  then  a"  particular  cir- 
cumstance which  St.  Luke  (xxiii. 
26)  adopts  from  him:  coming  out  of 
the  c(mntry ;  finally,  another  also, 
which  is  mentioned  by  none  but  St. 
Mark,  and  bears  upon  the  person  of 
this  Cyrenian:  he  was  the  father  of 
Alexander  and  Rufus,  men  in  Mark's 
time  well  known  in  the  Church,  and 
particularly  in  that  of  Rome.  "We 
are  not,  however,  so  to  understand 
the  matter,  as  if  the  cross  were 
taken  off  our  Lord's  shoulders  and 
transferred  to  those  of  this  Simon ; 
much  less,  as  Ave  see  it  sometimes 
represented  in  Bible  prints  and  pic- 
txu'es,  as  if  the  men  who  were 
leading  a^vay  Jesus,  on  seeing  him 
sink  under  the  Aveight,  had  there- 
fore thought  of  laying  it  on  Simon 


40i 


MATTHEW    XXVII. 


by  name :  him  they  compelled  to  bear  his  cross.     And  when  33 
they  were  come  unto  a  place  called  Golgotha,  that  is  to  say,  a 


as  he  was  passing  by.  The  im- 
probability of  this  will  be  per- 
ceived at  once,  by  attending  to  the 
circumstance,  that  among  the  Ro- 
mans the  cross  was  ordinarily  fas- 
tened to  the  shoulders  of  the  con- 
demned person,  and  could  not,  ac- 
cordingly, liave  been  first  unloosed 
by  the  soldiers,  as  this  supposition 
requires.  Ko!  the  Saviour's  cross 
was  taken  oflt"  his  shoulders  bv  no 
one.  But  the  soldiers  must  in  irony 
have  compelled  Simon,  who  in  pass- 
ing had  expressed  his  compassion 
for  the  adorable  sufferer,  to  lift  the 
cross,  and  (as  St.  Luke  expresses  it) 
to  bear  it  after  him.  Thus  Simon 
presents  us  here  with  an  image  of 
the  true  disciple  of  our  Lord,  shar- 
ing in  his  cross  and  in  his  igno- 
miny. In  perfect  accordance  with 
this  we  find  the  expressive  state- 
ment of  St.  John  xix.  17:  Jesus, 
hearing  with  pain  yfiaoTa^oiv)  his 
cross,  went  forth,  &c."  Da  Costa's 
Four  Witnesses,  pp.  414, 415.  It  may 
have  been,  nevertheless,  that  Jesus, 
bearing  his  cross  with  pain,  sunk 
beneath  it  by  the  way,  and  that  it 
was  then  taken  from  him  and  put  on 
Simon,  though  we  prefer  Da  Costa's 
view.  33.  And  when 

they  were  come  to  a  place 
called  Golgotha,  that  is  to 
say,  a  place  of  a  skull]  Cra- 
nium. Luke,  xxiii.  33,  says:  "  And 
when  they  were  come  to  the  place 
Avhich  is  called  Cranium^''''  not  Cal- 
vary. Kpaviov  is  the  Greek  word, 
meaning  a  skiiU.,  and  Calvary  is 
formed  from  the  corresponding  Latin 
word,  Calvaria.  The  term  was  prob- 
ably given  in  consequence  of  some 
natural  feature  of  the  place  resem- 
bling a  skull,  rather  than  because 
the  place  was  used  for  luirial.  The 
situation  of  the  place  is  unknown. 
The  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
which  is  five  or  six  hundred  yards, 
in  a  direction  nearly  west,  from  the 
northern  extremity  of  Mt.  Moriah, 
was  built  by  order  of  the  Emperor 
Constantine,  and  dedicated  A.  D. 
335,  to  commemorate  the  spot.  It  has 


been   seriously  questioned  whether 
this    was    really   the    place    where 
Jesus  was  crucified.     Dr.  Robinson 
has  shown,  we  think,  quite  conclu- 
sively that  the  site  of  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre  lies  within  tlie 
space  which   was  enclosed  by  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem  at  the  time  of 
the  Crucifixion,  and  it  is  admitted 
on  all  hands  that  uo  pul)lic  execu- 
tion would  at  that  time  have  been 
allowed  within  the  city  walls.     Dr. 
Robinson  has  also  shown  that  there 
is   no   historical  testimony  on   the 
subject  which  is  to  be  relied  upon 
now,  and  that  there  was  none  when 
the  church  was  erected,  three  hun- 
dred   years    after   the    crucifixion. 
Stanley,  in  his  able  and  scholarly 
work  on  Palestine,  admits  the  force 
of  the   objection   to   the  historical 
testimony,  but  does  not  think  Dr. 
Robinson's  A'iew  of  the  topographi- 
cal question  wholly  free  froin  diffi- 
culties.    Barclay,  in  his  City  of  the 
Great  King,  adopts  Dr.   Robinson's 
view,   and   siipports   it  with    great 
earnestness,  though  with  no   addi- 
tional arguments  which  are  entitled 
to  much  weight.     He  even  goes  so 
far  as  to  suggest  as  the  scene  of  the 
cnicifixion  a    spot  lying  nearly  in 
the  opposite  direction  from  the  jiidg- 
ment-hall.     After  speaking  of   the 
name  Craniiuu,  as  being  applicable 
not  only  to  the  head  of  an  animal, 
but  equally  so  to  a  head  or  cape  of 
land,    in   Avhich   we   find   him   sus- 
tained by  the  authority  of  Tischen- 
dorf,  he  adds,  p.  79 :  "'  Now  there  is 
a  kind  of  head,  cape,  or  promontory 
of  land   projecting  southeastwardly 
into  the  Kedron  valley,  a  short  dis- 
tance above   Gethscmane,  to  which 
such  a  term  seems  quite  applicable, 
just  as  the  low  spur  of  Lebanon  on 
which  Beirut  reposes  is  called  C:ipe 
or   Head  of   Beirut.     Jlay  not  this 
similar  spur  of  an  unnamed  ridge  be 
the  site  of  that  awful  scene,  —  the 
crucifixion  of   the    Son   of  God?" 
This  may  have  been  the  spot,  but 
the  arguments  adduced  by  Barclay 
are  not  sufficient  to  prove   it.     Nor 
do  we  attach  any  great  importance 


MATTHEW    XXVII. 


495 


34  place  of  a  skull,  they  gave  him  vinegar  to  drink,  mingled  with 
gall;    and  when  he  had  tasted  thereof,  he  would  not  drink. 

35  And  they  crucified  him,  and  parted  his  garments,  casting  lots ; 
that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet, 
"  They  parted  my  garments  among  them,  and  upon  my  vesture 

36  did  they  cast  lots."    And  sitting  down,  they  watched  him  there  ; 

37  and  set  up  over  his  head  his  accusation   written,    THIS    IS 


to  the  question.  The  grave  of  Moses 
was  unknown,  in  order  that  the  peo- 
ple might  never  have  an  opportuni- 
ty to  indulge  their  idolatrous  pro- 
pensity by  any  superstitious  observ- 
ances connected  with  it.  In  the 
writers  of  the  New  Testament  we 
find  nowhere  the  slightest  mark  of 
veneration  for  the  places  connected 
with  our  Saviour's  life.  They  had 
imbibed  too  much  of  the  spirit  of 
him  to  whom  Jerusalem  and  Geri- 
zim  were  alike  unimportant  as 
places  of  worship,  to  dwell  with 
reverence  on  things  so  purely  exter- 
nal. It  was  not  till  the  spiritual  life 
which  he  came  to  awaken  and  im- 
part had  begun  to  mingle  with  baser 
elements,  and  the  worship  of  the 
Father  '*  in  spirit  and  in  truth  "  had 
been  alloyed  by  something  very  like 
idolatrous  ingredients,  that  the  pas- 
sion for  relics  and  sacred  places 
was  excited  in  the  Church,  and 
pilgrimages  began  to  be  performed, 
and  idolatrous  substitutes  for  a 
devout  and  holy  life  began  to  exer- 
cise their  degrading  and  demoraliz- 
ing influence  on  the  souls  of  men. 
Still  there  is  a  reasonable  curiosity 
in  such  matters  ;  and  there  are  as- 
sociations which  ought  not  to  be 
disregarded.  No  true  follower  of 
Christ  could  visit  the  scenes  of  his 
earthly  ministry,  —  Nazareth,  the 
Lake  of  Tiberia"-,  the  hills  of  Gali- 
lee, the  banks  of  the  Jordan,  or  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  —  without  strong 
emotion.  We  even  agree  with  Stan- 
ley, when  he  says,  "  Granting  to  the 
full  the  doubts  which  must  always 
hang  over  the  highest  claims  of 
the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre,  no 
thoughtful  man  can  look  unmoved 
on  wiiat  has  from  the  time  of  Con- 
stantine  been  revered  by  the  larger 
part  of  the  Christian  world  as  the 


scene  of  the  greatest  events  of 
the  world's  history."  Wherever 
the  place  was  situated,  the  name  of 
Calvary  can  never  lose  its  pow- 
er with  the  followers  of  Christ. 
Among  the  traditions  respecting 
Golgotha  is  one  that  Adam,  or  at 
least  Adam's  skull,  was  buried 
there,  and  the  precise  spot  is  still 
pointed  out  and  believed  in  as  tiie 
"entombment  of  Adam's  head  "  ! 

34.  they  gave  him 
vinegar  to  drink,  mingled 
with  gall]  Just  before  crucihx- 
ion  the  Romans  were  accustomed 
to  give  to  the  convicts  a  stupefying 
drink,  wine  mingled  with  myrrh,  iu 
order  to  deaden  their  sensibility  to 
the  awful  agonies  of  this  dreadful 
punishment.  Mark  (xv.  23)  says 
ivine  mingled  with  myrrh  ;  Matthew, 
vinegnr  mingled  with  gall.  But  vine- 
gar was  nothing  else  than  the  com- 
mon sour  wine,  and  the  word  gdU 
was  used  to  denote  bitters  of  any 
kind.  "  They  gave  me  also  gall 
for  my  meat;  and  in  my  thirst  they 
gave  me  vinegar  to  drink."  (Ps. 
Ixix.  21.)  It  was  undoubtedly  in- 
tended by  the  Romans  as  an  act  of 
mercy,  yet  it  was  here  administered 
in  an  insulting  way.  "  And  the 
soldiers  also  mocked  him,  coming 
to  him,  and  oflFering  him  vinegar." 
(Luke  xxiii.  36.)  When  Jesus  had 
tasted  it,  he  refused  to  drink,  for 
"he  did  not  wish  to  meet  death 
otherwise  than  in  the  full  posses- 
sion   of    his   consciousness." 

35.  that  it  might  be  ful- 
filled] These  words,  and  what  fol- 
low in  this  verse,  are  not  found  in 
the  best  manuscripts.  They  were 
probably  copied  in  here  by  tran- 
scribers* from  John  xix.  24. 
37.  And  set  np  aver  his  head 
his  accusation    written.   This 


496 


MATTHEW    XXVII. 


JESUS,  THE  KING  OF  THE  JEWS.     Then  were  there  38 
two  thieves  crucified  with  him ;  one  on  the  right  hand,  and 

another  on  the  left. And  they  that  passed  by  reviled  hun,  39 

wagging  their  heads,  and  saying,  Thou  that   destroyest  the  40 
temple,  and  buildest  it  in  three  days,  save  thyself;  if  thou  be 
the  Son  of  God,  come  down  from  the  cross.     Likewise  also  the  41 
chief  priests,  mocking  him,  with  the  scribes  and  elders,  said, 
He  saved  others,  himself  he  cannot  save ;  if  he  be  the  King  42 
of  Israel,  let  him  now  come  down  from  the  cross,  and  we  will 
believe  him.     He  trusted  in  God ;   let  him  deliver  him  now,  43 


is    Jesus    the     King     of    the 

Jews]  111  M:irk*  it  is,  The  King 
OF  THE  Jews;  in  Luke,  The  King 
OF  THE  Jews  this;  in  John,  Jesus 
OF  Nazaketh,  the  King  of  the 
Jews.  "  On  the  difference  in  the 
four  Gospels  as  to  the  words  of 
the  inscription  itself  it  is  hardly 
worth  while  to  comment,  except  to 
remark  that  the  advocates  for  the 
verbal  and  literal  exactness  of  each 
Gospel  may  here  find  an  undoubted 
example  of  the  absurdity  of  their 
view,  which  may  serve  to  guide 
them  in  less  plain  and  obvious 
ca>es.  A  title  was  written,  con- 
taining certain  words;  not  four 
titles,  all  different,  but  one,  differ- 
ing probably  from  all  of  these  four, 
but  certainlv  fi'om  three  of  them." 
Alford.  Da  Costa,  who  holds  to 
a  literal  or  verbal  exactness,  ex- 
plains the  differences  thus-.  Ac- 
cording to  John  xix.  20,  the  super- 
scription was  written  in  Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  Latin.  It  may  therefore 
have  been  written  Avith  variations, 
and  each  of  the  Evangelists  may 
hiive  given  it  according  to  the  lan- 
guage and  the  form  best  suited  to  his 
own  plan  or  style.  In  St.  Luke,  he 
says,  it  is  probably  the  Latin  super- 
scription; in  St.  Mark,  the  Hebrew, 
while  St.  John  gives  it  to  us  in  the 
fullest  form,  which  is  the  Greek, 
anil  "  St.  Mdtthi'W  (jives  us  a  kind  of 
comhinntion.^''  Wliat  is  this  "  kind 
of  combination,"  but  a  giving  up  of 
the  literal  and  verbal  exactness? 

40.  save  thyself.  42.  He 
saved  others  ;  himself  he  can- 
not save]  The  word  Jesus  means 
ISaviour ;  and  it  has  been  supposed 


that  here  in  the  original  Hebrew  or 
Aramaic  was  a  taunting  play  upon 
the  Saviour's  name. 
39.  And  they  that  passed  by- 
reviled  him,  wagging  their 
heads]  41.  '•  Liktwise  nUo  die  chief 
jj7-iests,  mocking  him,  mth  the  scribes 
and  elders.,  said.,""  43,  '"  He  trusted 
in  God;  let  him  deliver  him  now  if 
he  will  have  him  ;  for  he  said,  I  am 
the  Son  of  God.''  The  correspond- 
ence between  this  and  the  seventh 
and  eighth  verses  of  the  twenty- 
second  Psalm  is  very  remarkable. 
"  All  that  see  me  laugh  me  to  scorn: 
they  shoot  out  the  lip,  they  shake 
the -head,  saying.  He  trusted  on  the 
Lord  that  he  would  deliver  him :  let 
him  deliver  him,  seeing  he  delighted 
in  him."  In  this  Psalm  are  the 
other  expressions:  "My  God,  uiy 
God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?  " 
*'  They  pierced  my  hands  and  my 
feet."  "  They  part  my  garments 
among  them,  and  cast  lots  upon  my 
vesture."  Are  these  accidental  co- 
incidences, or  were  they  thrown  in 
through  the  superintending  and  })ro- 
phetic  spirit  of  God,  that  they  might 
associate  themselves  with  the  scene 
upon  the  cross  as  a  prediction  of 
that  event  in  some  of  its  minute  par- 
ticulars? Undoubtedly  the  Psalm, 
as  Dr.  Xoyes  says,  is  one  in  which 
a  pious  Israelite  makes  his  suppli- 
cation to  God  in  the  midst  of  great 
distress,  and  enumerates  the  cir- 
cumstances which  aggravate  his 
distress,  and  the  faith  by  which  he 
may  triumph  over  it.  But  may  it 
not'  also  be  in  some  of  its  parts  a 
type  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ? 
I'd  this  question  we  would  apply 


MATTHEW  XXVII. 


497 


44  if  he  will  have  him ;  for  he  said,  I  am  the  Son  of  God.     The 
thieves  also  which  were  crucified  with  him  cast  the  same  in  his 

45  teeth. Now  from  the  sixth  hour  there  was  darkness  over 

46  all  the  land,  unto  the  ninth  hour.     And   ibout  the  ninth  hour 


the  remarks  of  Dr.  Noyes.  "  As  to 
tlie  typical  or  inysticaf  sense  Avliich 
has  been  assigned  to  this  and  other 
psalms,  it  seems  to  be  beyond  the 
province  of  the  interpreter.  There 
are  no  human  means  by  which  to 
ascertain  it.  None  but  the  Divine 
Spirit  can  be  sure  what  it  is.  As 
has  been  well  observed  by  Emesti, 
in  his  Principles  of  Biblical  Inter- 
pi-etation,  — '  Nor,  in  searching  for 
this  typical  sense,  is  there  need  of 
the  care  and  talents  of  an  inter- 
preter. For  it  is  revealed  by  the 
information  and  testimony  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  beyond  whose  showing 
we  should  not  in  this  matter  at- 
tempt to  advance.'  "  44. 
The  thieves  also  Avhich  were 
crucified  with  him  cast  the 
same  into  his  teeth]  It  may  be 
that  both  at  first  reviled  Jesus,'and 
that  afterwards  one  of  them,  im- 
pressed and  subdued  by  his  bearing 
on  the  cross,  mav  have  spoken  as 
in  Luke  xxiii.  40-43.  It  is  diffi- 
cult, however,  to  suppose  that  the 
Avriter  here  was  acquainted  with 
the  facts  narrated  there.  45. 
Now  from  the  sixth  hour 
there  was  darkness  over  all 
the  laud,  unto  the  ninth  hour] 
From  12  U.  to  3  P.  U.  This  could 
not  have  been  an  eclipse  of  the  sun, 
for  it  was  then  the  time  of  the  full 
moon ;  nor  does  the  language  imply 
that  the  darkness  extended  to  any 
great  distance  beyond  the  vicinity 
of  Jerusalem.  VVe  know  not  how 
close  and  strong  may  be  the  sym- 
pathy between  the  spiritual  and  the 
physical  universe,  nor  how  far  the 
phenomena  of  the  outAvard  Avorld 
may  be  affected  by  the  life  and 
conduct  of  men.  The  greatest  po- 
ets have  recognized  intimate  rela- 
tions between  the  two;  nor  can  Ave 
"  set  to  the  account  of  accident  or 
imagination  all  those  remarkable 
coincidences  between  heaven  and 
earth,  all  those  testimonies  which 
the  signs  and  tokens  of  heaven 
42* 


have  so  often  yielded,  and  men 
taken  note  of,  that  the  gi-eat  of 
this  world  do  not  come  or  go  with- 
out  Avarning At   no   time 

does  nature  put  on  a  careless,  im- 
meaning  face,  Avhen  aught  that 
intimately  concerns  her  foster-child 
man  is  being  done,  nor  make  as 
though  this  Avas  nothing  unto  her. 
On  the  confrary,  Jier  history  runs 
parallel,  and  is  subordinate,  to  his, 
—  the  great  moments  in  the  life  of 
nature  concurring  Avith  the  great 
moments  in  the  life  of  man,  and 
therefore  most  of  all  Avith  the  great 
crises  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  Avhich 
concerns  him  the  nearest  of  all. 
Thus,  during  all  those  hours  that 
the  Son  of  God  hung  upon  the 
cross,  there  was  darkness  over  the 
Avhole  earth  [land  ?] ;  nature  shud- 
dered to  her  very  centre,  at  the 
moment  Avhen  he  expired;  for  it 
was  her  king,  as  Avell  as  man's, 
that  died."  Trench,  Star  of  the 
Wise  Men,  p.  23.  "  The  sublimity 
of  this  moment  seems  to  haAe  been 
symbolically  solemnized  CA-en  by 
nature  herself."  "  How  deep  lies 
its  foundation  in  human  nature  to 
regard  natural  e\'ents  symbolically 
as  manifesting  a  sympiit  ly  betAveeh 
the  life  of  nature  and  the  incidents 
of  humanity,  is  shown  by  parallel 
passages  from  the  profane  Avriters." 
'•  In  the  history  of  Immanuel  ap- 
pear in  their  complete  and  actual 
truth  Avhat  were  but  erroneous,  and 
diA^ersely  distj-acted,  suppositions  of 
mankind."  Olshausen.  "  The  wise 
men  from  the  East  were  led  to  tha 
Redeemer  by  tlie  remarkable  phe- 
nomena Avhich  attended  his  birth  ; 
and  similar  Avonders  accompanied 
his  death.  As  the  miity  of  the 
Avorld  as  a  Avhole  [the  'Avorld  of 
nature  and  of  spirit]  is  seen  iu 
natural  signs  accompanying  epoch- 
making  events  in  history,  so  Ave 
need  not  marvel  to  find  the  greatest 
event  in  history  —  shown  as  such 
by  its  finiits  in  the  spiritual  reuova- 


498 


MATTHEW  XXVII. 


Jesus  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  saying,  Eli,  Eli,  lauia  sabach- 
thani  '/  tliat  is  to  say,  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  for- 


tion  of  mankind,  even  to  those  who 
cannot  comprehend  its  internal  im- 
port —  attended  by  simihir  mani- 
festations. At  the  moment  of 
Christ's  death  there  was  an  earth- 
quake; and  at  the  same  time,  and 
perhaps  from  the  same  cause,  a 
darkness  spread  over  the  sky.  The 
veil  of  the  Holy  of  Holies  in  the 
Temple  was  rent  asunder,  signify- 
ing that  the  Holy  of  Holies  in 
Heaven  is  opened  to  all  men 
through  the  finished  work  of 
Christ;  the  wall  of  partition  be- 
tween the  Divine  and  the  human 
broken  down,  and  a  spiritual  wor- 
ship substituted  for  an  outward  and 
sensible  one."  Neander,  Life  of 
Jesus,  pp.  421,  422.  "  Those  whose 
belief  leads  them  to  reflect  loho  it 
was  then  suffering,  will  have  no 
difficulty  in  accounting  for  these 
signs  of  sympathy  in  nature,  nor 
in  seeing  their  applicability.  The 
consent,  in  the  same  words,  of  all 
three  Evangelists,  must  silence  all 
question  as  to  the  universal  belief 
of  this  darkness  as  a  fact;  and  the 
early  fathers  (Tertull.  Apol.  c.  21; 
Origen  c.  Cels.  2.  33;  Euseb.  in 
Chronicon)  appeal  to  profime  testi- 
mony for  its  truth."     Alford. 

46.  Eli,  Eli,  lama  sabach- 
thanl?  that  is  to  say,  3Iy 
God,  my  God,  why  hast 
thou  forsaken  me  ?J  It  is  one 
of  the  incidental  proofs  of  the  gen- 
uineness of  the  Gospels  that  these 
extraordinary  words  should  be  pre- 
served in  the  language  in  which  they 
were  spoken.  They  may  be  found 
in  the  first  verse  of  the  twenty-sec- 
ond Psalm.  Dr.  Noyes  says  in  re- 
gard to  them :  "  I  cannot  agi-ee  with 
tliose  who  find  in  them  no  expres- 
sion of  anguish  or  tone  of  expostu- 
lation, and  who  suppose  them  to 
be  cited  by  our  Saviour  merely  in 
order  to  suggest  the  confidence  and 
triuni|)h  with  which  the  Psalm  ends, 
but  which  do  not  begin  before 
the  twenty-second  verse.  Under 
the  circumstances  of  the  case,  the 
words  appear  to  have  had  sub- 
stantially the  same  meaning  when 


uttered  by  Christ  as  when  uttered 
by  the  Psalmist.  They  should  not 
be  interpreted  as  the  deliberate  re- 
sult of  calm  reflection,  but  as  an 
outburst  of  strong  involuntary  emo- 
tion, forced  from  our  Saviour  by 
anguish  of  body  and  mind,  in  the 
words  which  Haturally  occurred  to 
him,  implying  momtntnry  expostu- 
lation, or  even  complaint.  But  that 
the  interniption  of  the  consciousness 
of  God's  presence  and  love  was  only 
momentary,  both  in  the  case  of  the 
Psalmist  and  the  Saviour,  is  evi- 
dent, first,  from  the  expression.  My 
God!  my  God!  repeated  with  ear- 
nestness; secondly,  from  the  ex- 
pressions of  confidence  in  the 
course  of  the  Psalm,  which  might 
follow  in  the  mind  of  Christ  as  well 
as  in  that  of  the  Psalmist;  and 
thirdly,  from  the  usage  of  language, 
according  to  which  the  expression 
'  to  be  forsaken  by  God '  merely 
means  *  not  to  be  delivered  from 
actual  or  impending  distress.'  The 
very  parallel  line  in  the  verse  under 
consideration,  '  Why  art  thou  so 
far  from  helping  me?'  is,  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  of  Hebrew  parallel- 
ism, a  complete  exposition  of  the 
language,  '  Why  hast  thou  for- 
saken me?'  So  Ps.  xxxviii.  21, 
22."  Theological  Essays,  p.  xviii. 
hi  confirmation  of  thfs  view  Dr. 
Noyes  quotes  Meyer  on  Matt,  xxvii. 
46,'  as  follows:  "By  the  words 
'  Why  hast  thou  foVsaken  me  ? ' 
Jesus  expressed  what  he  personally 
felt,  his  conscioi/sness  of  communion 
with  God  having  been  for  a  moment 
interrupted  by  his  sufferings.  But 
this  momentaVy  subjective  feeling 
is  not  to  be  confounded  with  an 
actual  objective  abandonment  by 
God  (against  Olshausen  and  the 
older  commentators),  which  at 
least  in  the  case  of  .Tesus  would 
have    been   a  physical   and   moral 

impossibility To  find,  with 

the  older  dogmatic  theologians,  the 
vicarious  feeling  of  Divine  wrath  in 
the  cry  of  anguish,  '  Why  hast  thou 
forsaken  me  ? '  is  to  go  beyond  the 
New  Testament  view  of  the  atoning 


MATTHEW  XXVII. 


499 


47  saken  me  ?     Some  of  them  that  stood  there,  when  they  heard 

48  that,  said,  This  man  calleth  for  Elias.     And  straightway  one 
of  them  ran,  and  took  a  sponge,  and  filled  it  with  vinegar,  and 

49  put  it  on  a  reed,  and  gave  him  to  drink.     Tlie  rest  said.  Let 


death  of  Christ,  ns  also  that  of  the 
agony  in  Gethsemane.  Un  the  oth- 
er hand,  the  opinion  of  some  inter- 
preters, that  Jesus,  when  he  quoted 
the  first  verse  of  the  Psahn,  had  in 
his  mind  the  whole  of  it,  is  arbitra- 
ry, and  brings  into  his  condition  of 
immediate  feeling  the  heterogenous 
element  of  reflection  and  citation." 
For  our  view  of  the  state  of  Christ's 
mind  here,  and  the  overpowering 
nature  of  his  sufferings,  we  refer  to 
what  we  have  said  of  the  agony  in 
Gethsemane,  xxvi.  36  -  46.  His 
capacity  for  suffering  was  on  the 
same  vast  scale  as  his  other  facul- 
ties, and  therefore  far  transcending 
anything  that  we  can  know  of  hu- 
man anguish.  What  there  may 
have  been  beyond  this,  what  rela- 
tion his  sufferings  may  have  had 
to  the  redemption  of  man  in  the 
infinite  counsels  of  God,  and  be- 
yond the  limits  of  this  world,  has 
not  been  revealed  in  the  Scriptures, 
and  therefore  cannot  be  known  by 
us.  To  assert  that  they  had  no 
such  far-reaching  influence  would 
be  as  unauthorized  a  piece  of  dog- 
matism, as  to  assert  that  their  prin- 
cipal efficacy  lies  in  that  direction. 
We  cannot  fathom  the  depth  of  our 
Saviour's  sufferings,  because  we 
caimot  comprehend  the  greatness 
of  his  mind,  his  nature,  or  his  mis- 
sion. We  can  no  more  explain  all 
the  sources  of  his  grief,  than  we 
can  the  sources  of  his  knowledge  or 
his  power.  When  we  can  analyze 
the  process  by  which  he  revealed  to 
us  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  or  raised  Lazarus  from  the 
dead,  or  talked  in  open  vision,  fiice  to 
fiice,  with  Moses  and  Elias,  then  we 
may  hope  to  analyze  the  sufferings 
of  Gethsemiine  and  Calvary.  Un- 
doubtedly his  sufferings  were  ter- 
ribly aggravated  by  the  intense 
and  perfect  sympathy  with  man, 
through  which  he  became  the  rep- 
resentative of  the  whole  race,  tak- 


ing upon  himself  their  sorrows  and 
their  sins,  ^^'e  can  hardly  do  more 
than  guess  at  the  amount  of  an- 
guish thus  forced  upon  him. 
"  An  enigma  indeed,"  says  Nean- 
der,  "  must  this  exclamation  ap- 
pear     to  those   who  forget 

that  Christ  suffered  and  died  for 
mankind,  —  for  mankind  laid  up  in 
his  heart;  an  enigma  to  all,  in  a 
word,  who  are  strangers  to  the 
Christian  life.  But  the  Christian 
sees  in  this  feature  of  his  Master's 
history  a  type  of  the  life  of  indi- 
vidual believers,  and  of  the  whole 
Church;  for  both  must  be  led 
through  all  stages  of  suffering,  and 
even  through  moments  of  apparent 
abandonment  by  God,  to  perfection 
and  glorification."  Life  of  Jesus, 
p.  420.  47.  Some  of 

them  that  stood  there,  when 
they  heard  that,  said,  This 
man  calleth  for  Elias]  We 
see  no  evidence  that  these  words,  or 
those  in  v.  49,  "  Let  us  see  whether 
Elins  will  come  to  save  him,^''  were 
spoken  in  derision.  The  spectators, 
we  suppose,  had  been  deeply  im- 
pressed by  the  darkness  and  the 
silence,  and  now  that  the  silence 
was  broken  by  the  remarkable 
words  of  Jesus,  they  misunder- 
stood their  meaning,  and  were 
waiting  with  awe  to  see  whaf  tb.e 
result  might  be.  48.  And 

straightway  one  of  them  ran, 
and  took  a  sponge,  and  filled 
it  with  vinegar]  "  We  have  no 
reason  for  assuming  that  the  soldiers 
offering  vinegar  in  Luke  xxiii.  36, 
37  is  the  same  incident  as  this. 
Since  then  the  bodily  state  of  the 
Redeemer  had  greatly  changed;  and 
what  was  then  offered  in  mockery 
might  well  be  now  asked  for  in  the 
agony  of  death,  and  received  when 
presented,  as  in  our  text.  The  o^os 
is  the  j)osca,  sour  wine,  or  A'ijiognr 
and  water,  the  ordinary  drink  of 
the  Komau  soldiers."    Alford.    The 


500 


MATTHEW    XXVII. 


be  ;  let  us  see  whether  Elias  will  come  to  save  him. Jesus,  60 

when  he  had  cried  again  with  a  loud  voice,  yielded  up  the 

ghost. And,  behold,  the  veil  of  the  temple  was  rent  in  51 

twain  from  the  top  to  the  bottom ;  and  the  earth  did  quake, 
and  the  rocks  rent ;  and  the  graves  were  opened,  and  many  52 
bodies  of  the  saints  which  slept  arose,  and  came  out  of  the  53 
graves  after  his  resurrection,  and  Avent  into  the  holy  city,  and 
appeared  unto  many.  Now  when  the  centurion,  and  they  that  54 
were  with  him  watching  Jesus,  saw  the  earthquake,  and  those  • 
things  which  were  done,  they  feared  greatly,  saying,  Truly 

this  was  the  Son  of  God. And  many  women  were  there,  55 

beholding  afar  off;  which  followed  Jesus  from  Galilee,  minis- 
tering unto  him ;    among  which  Avas  Mary  Magdalene,  and  56 


drink  is  given  in  reply  to  the  re- 
quest of  Jesus,  "  1  thirst,  "  in  John 
xix.  28.  51,  52.  And, 

behold,  the  veil  of  the  temple 
was  rent  in  twain]  This  must 
have  been  the  veil  or  curtain  before 
the  Holy  of  Holies.  See  note  on 
45.  And  many  bodies  of  the  saints 
which  slept  arose,  and  came  out  of 
the  graves  after  his  resurrection,  and 
loent  into  the  holy  city,  and  appeared 
to  many.  This  passage  is  rejected 
by  Mr.  Norton  as  an  interpolation. 
But  it  is  found  in  all  the  best  man- 
uscripts. The  events  are  of  a  most 
extraordinary  character;  but  that 
alone  will  hardly  justify  us  in  ex- 
cluding the  passage  from  the  Gos- 
pels. There  is  nothing  in  the  ac- 
count which  should  be  incredible  to 
those  who  believe  in  the  miracles  of 
Jesus.  It  is  only  as  accessory  or 
dependent  incidents  arranging  them- 
selves around  the  one  great  fact  of 
Christ's  death  and  resurrection  that 
these  extraordinary  events  can  be 
regarded  in  their  ti-ue  aspect  and 
relations.  When  thus  regarded,  they 
may  appear  as  the  natural  and  fit- 
ting accompaniments  of  that  death 
which  broke  down  the  powers  of 
the  grave,  and  which  became  a 
door  or  gateway  of  life  to  all  be- 
lievers, and  thus  brought  life  and 
immortality  to  light.  But  when  we 
undertake  to  explain  the  events,  and 
to  show  precisely  how  they  may 
have  occuiTed,  we  find  many  diffi- 


culties in  the  way,  and  are  obliged 
to  say,  with  Adam  Clarke,  that "  the 
place  is  extremely  obscure."  There 
is  but  one  other  passage  in  Mat- 
thew (xvii.  27)  which  seems  to  us 
to  bear  such  internal  marks  of 
being  a  mythical  accretion. 
54.  Truly  this  was  the  Son  of 
God]  The  expression  in  Luke, 
xxiii.  47,  is,  "  Certainly  this  tvas  a 
righteous  man.''''  The  two  expres- 
sions, we  suppose,  were  actually 
used  by  the  centiu'ion.  They  may, 
however,  be  only  different  transla- 
tions of  the  same  words,  and  mean- 
ing substantially  the  same  thing. 
They  were  spoken  by  one  who  be- 
lieved in  the  Gods.  The  exact  ver- 
sion of  the  words  recorded  by  ]\Iat- 
thew  is,  "  Truly  this  was  a  God's 
son,"  i.  e."  a  divine,''  or,  as  St.  Luke 
has  it,  "  a  righteous,  man.''  It  is  pos- 
sible that  he  used  the  words  in  the 
Jewish  sense,  as  indicated  in  our 
common  version.  56.  Mary 

Magdalene]  "  See  ch.  xv.  3y. 
She  is  not  to  be  confounded 
with  Mary  who  anointed  our  Lord 
(John  xii.  1),  nor  with  the  woman 
who  did  the  same,  Luke  vii.  36; 
see  Luke  viii.  2."  Alford.  There 
is  no  evidence  except  what  is  indi- 
cated by  the  disease  of  Avhich  Jesus 
cured  her  (Luke  viii.  2),  that  she 
had  been  a  dissolute  woman.  Her 
name  probably  came  from  Magdala. 
and  Mary  the  mother  of 
James  and  Josesj   The  mother  of 


MATTHEW   XXVII. 


501 


Mary  tlie  motlier  of  James  and  Joses,  and  the  mother  of  Zebe- 
dee's  children. 

67  When  the  even  was  come,  there  came  a  rich  man  of  Arima- 
thea,  named   Joseph,  who   also   himself  was    Jesus'  disciple. 

68  He  went  to  Pilate,  and  begged  the  body  of  Jesus.    Then  Pilate 

59  commanded  the  body  to  be  delivered.     And  when  Joseph  had 

60  taken  the  body,  he  wrapped  it  in  a  clean  linen  cloth,  and  laid 
it  in  his  own  new  tomb,  which  he  had  hewn  out  in  the  rock ; 
and  he  rolled  a  great  stone  to  the  door  of  the  sepulchre,  and 

61  departed.  And  there  was  Mary  Magdalene,  and  the  other 
Mary,  sitting  over  against  the  sepulchre. 


James  the  less,  or  the  younger,  says 
Mark,  to  distinguish  liim  from  James 
the  son  of  Zebedee,  and  the  wife  of 
Alphajus  or  Clopas;  see  John  xix. 
2"',  and  com.  <  n  Matt.  xiii.  53-58. 

and  the  mother  of  Zebe- 
dee's  children]  =  Snlome,  l^hu•k 
XV.  40.  57.  there  came 

a  rich  man  of  Arimathea, 
named  Joseph]  "  A  disciple  of 
Jesus,"  says  John  (xix.  38),  "but 
secretly,  through  fear  of  the  Jews." 
"  A  counsellor,"  i.  e.  a  member  of  the 
Sanhedrim,  says  Luke  (xxiii.  50, 
51),  "  and  he  was  a  good  and  right- 
eous man  (this  man  had  not  con- 
sented to  their  counsel  and  their 
deed)  from  Arimathea,  a  city  of  the 
Jews,  who  also  himself  was  waiting 
for  the  kingdom  of  God."  This  is 
all  that  is  known,  nor  can  it  be 
determined  now  precisely  where 
Ai-imathea  was.  He  was  evidently 
a  man  (Mark  xv.  43)  of  great  re- 
spectability of  character  as  well  as 
a  man  of  wealth.  58.  He 

M^ent  to  Pilate,  and  begged 
the  body  of  Jesus]  The  Roman 
custom  was  to  leave  the  bodies  ex- 
posed on  the  crosses  till  devoured 
by  birds  of  prey.  Horace,  Epis.  I. 
16.  48.  The  Jewish  custom,  on  the 
other  hand,  ( Josephus,  Jewish  Wars, 
IV.  5.  2,)  was  to  take  them  down 
before  sunset  and  bury  them.  If  no 
one  had  come  to  ask*^  for  the  body 
of  Jesus,  it  would  have  been  buried 
in  the  common  place  appointed  for 
the  burial  of  executed  criminals. 
He  has  been  "  numbered  with  the 
transgressors,"   and  now  he  is    to 


have  his  grave  "  with  the  rich  in 
his  death."  Had  he  been  placed 
with  others  in  the  common  burying- 
ground  for  malefactors,  it  wouldhave 
been  impossible  to  obtain  the  cir- 
cumstantial evidence  that  we  noAV 
have  of  his  resurrection.  The  chief 
priests  would  not  have  thought  of 
sealing  the  stone,  or  setting  a  watch 
there.  59.  Wrapped  it 

in  a  clean  linen  cloth]  "The 
Jews,  as  well  as  the  Egyptians, 
added  spices  to  keep  the  body 
from  putrefaction,  and  the  linen 
was  wrapped  about  every  part  to 
keep  the  aromatics  in  contact  with 
the  flesh.  From  Jolni  xix.  39,  40, 
we  learn  that  a  mixture  of  myrrh 
and  aloes,  of  one  hundred  pounds' 
weight,  had  been  applied  to  the 
body  of  Jesus  when  he  was  buried. 
And  that  a  second  embalmment 
was  intended,  we  learn  fi-om  Luke 
xxiii.  56  and  xxiv.  1,  as  the  hurry 
to  get  the  body  interred  before  the 
Sabbath  did  iiot  permit  them  to 
complete  the  embalming  in  the  first 
instance."     Adam  Clarke. 

60.  And  laid  it  in  his  own 
new  tomb]  Matthew  alone  re- 
lates that  it  was  Joseph's  own  tomb. 
John  relates  that  it  was  in  a  gar- 
den, and  in  the  place  Avhere  he  was 
crucified.  "  All  that  we  can  deter- 
mine respecting  the  sepulchre  from 
the  data  here  fuVnished  is :  — - 1.  That 
it  was  not  a  natural  cave,  but  an 
artificial  excavation  in  the  rock. 
2.  That  it  was  not  cut  doivnwards, 
after  the  manner  of  a  grave  with 
us,   but  horizontally,   or  nearly  so, 


502 


MATTHEW   XXVir. 


Now  the  next  day,  that  followed  the  day  of  the  preparation,  62 
the  chief  priests  and  Pharisees  came  together  unto  Pilate,  say-  63 
ing.  Sir,  we  remember  that  that  deceiver  said,  while  he  was 
yet   alive.  After  three   days  I  will  rise   again.      Command  64 
therefore  that  the  sepulchre  be  made  sure  until  the  third  day, 
lest  his  disciples  come  by  night,  and  steal  him  away,  and  say 
unto  the  people.  He  is  risen  from  the  dead  ;  so  the  last  error 
shall  be  worse  than  the  first.     Pilate  said  unto  them.  Ye  have  65 
a  watch ;  go  your  way,  make  it  as  sure  as  ye  can.     So  they  66 
went,  and  made  the  sepulchre  sure,  sealing  the  stone,  and  set- 
tinn;  a  watch. 


into  the  face  of  the  rock 

3.  That  it  was  m  the  spot  where  tlie 
crucifixion  took  place."     Alford. 

62,  the  next  day, 
that  followed  the  day  of  the 
preparation]  More  exactly,  On 
the  next  day,  i.  e.  the  day  that 
came  after  the  preparation.  The 
prepardion  was  the  day  before  the 
Jewish  Sabbath.  Why  should  it 
be  mentioned  here?  Because  to 
Matthew,  wlien  he  recorded  these 
events,  that  pt^eparation  day  on 
which  Jesus  had  been  crucified 
was  the  dav  from  wliich  to  reckon 
even  the  Sabbath  which  came  im- 
mediately after  it.  It  was  as  if  he 
had  said.   The  day  after  the  cruci- 


Jixion.  Sir]  Kupte,  Lord. 

The  title  of  respect  usually  applied 
to  Jesus,  and  to  persons  of  distinc- 
tion, but  not  implying  the  homage 
or  reverence  due  to  a  divine  being. 
66.  sealing  the  stone, 
and  setting  a  watch]  "  The 
sealing  was  by  means  of  a  cord  or 
string  passing  across  the  stone  at 
the  mouth  of  the  sepulchre,  and 
fastened  at  either  end  to  the  rock 
by  sealing-clay."  The  watch  or 
guard  was  jirobably  a  small  detach- 
ment of  Roman  soldiers  which  the 
governor  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
the  priests,  and  of  course  subject  to 
their  orders. 


MATTHEW   XXVIII.  503 


CHAPTER    XXYIII. 

The  Gospel  Narratives  of  the  Resurrection. 

"The  independence  and  distinctness  of  the  four  narra- 
tives in  this  part,"  says  Alford,  "  have  never  been  ques- 
tioned, and  indeed  herein  he  its  principal  difficulties.  With 
regard  to  them,  I  refer  to  what  I  have  said  in  the  Prole- 
gomena, that  supposing  us  to  be  acquainted  with  everything 
said  and  done,  in  its  order  and  exactness,  we  should  doubt- 
less be  able  to  reconcile,  m-  account  for,  the  present  forms  of 
the  narratives  :  but  not  having  this  key  to  the  harmonizing 
of  them,  all  attempts  to  do  so  in  minute  particulars  must  be 
full  of  arbitrary  assumptions,  and  carry  no  certainty  with 
them.  And  I  may  remark,  that,  of  all  harmonies,  those  of 
the  incidents  of  these  chapters  are  to  me  the  most  unsatis- 
factory." After  a  very  careful  comparison  of  the  different 
narratives,  without  reference  to  any  commentator  or  har- 
monist, we  do  not  find  the  difficulties  so  great  as  Alford 
supposes  them  to  be.  The  result  to  which  we  have  been 
led  by  our  own  independent  inquiries  agrees  substantially 
with  the  conclusions  of  Dr.  Carpenter,  and  is  in  most  j^ar- 
ticulars  nearly  the  same  as  that  in  Dr.  Robinson's  Harmony, 
which  we  did  not  read  till  after  we  had  satisfied  our  minds 
in  regard  to  the  true  succession  of  events.  In  order  to 
study  the  matter  to  advantage,  it  is  necessary  that  the  reader 
should  thoroughly  master  the  different  accounts,  so  as  to 
carry  clearly  and  distinctly  in  his  mind  all  the  details  as 
they  are  given  by  each  separate  Evangelist. 

In  the  first  place,  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  all 
the  women  mentioned  by  the  Evangelists  set  out  from  the 
same  place  or  at  the  same  moment.     It  is  not  improbable 


504  MATTHEW    XXVIII. 

that  Mary  Magdalene  and  "  the  other  Mary  "  had  spent  the 
Sabbath  at  Bethany,  and  there  prepared  the  spices  with 
which  to  anoint  the  body  of  Jesus.  Salome,  on  the  other 
hand,  and  Joanna,  the  wife  of  Chuza  (Luke  viii.  3),  were 
probably  in  the  city.  It  would  appear  also,  from  Luke 
xxiv.  33,  that  the  eleven  had  a  place  of  meeting  in  the 
city,  and  from  John  xx.  2,  that  Peter  and  John  at  least 
had  their  places  of  abode  in  Jerusalem. 

We  may  suppose  then  that  "  very  early  in  the  morning  " 
(Mark  xvi.  2),  "while  it  was  yet  dark"  (John  xx.  1),  Mary 
Magdalene  and  the  women  who  were  with  her  set  out  from 
Bethany,  which  was  nearly  two  miles  from  Jerusalem,  talk- 
ing by  the  way  of  what  had  taken  place,  and  questioning 
among  themselves  how  they  should  roll  away  the  heavy 
stone  from  the  mouth  of  the  sepulchre.  When  they  reached 
the  spot,  the  sun,  had  already  risen  (Mark  xvi.  2).  Mary 
Magdalene,  the  moment  she  saw  that  the  stone  had  been 
removed,  supposing  that  the  body  had  been  taken  aAvay, 
ran  swiftly  into  the  city  to  Peter  and  John,  who,  excited 
by  her  words,  ran  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  the  sepulchre; 
During  this  interval,  which  must  have  taken  up  from  fifteen 
to  thirty  minutes,  the  other  women  come  nearer  to  the  tomb, 
see  the  angel  (one  angel,  Matthew  and  Mark),  and  hear 
from  him  that  Jesus  has  risen,  and  that  he  would  meet  his 
disciples  in  Galilee.  They  depart  to  find  the  disciples,  and 
while  on  their  way  are  met  by  Jesus,  who  has  already 
shown  himself  to  Mary  Magdalene  at  the  sepulchre.  They 
tell  what  they  have  heard  and  seen  to  the  disciples,  but  are 
not  believed.  Immediately  after  they  had  left  the  sepul- 
chre, the  women  from  the  city,  Salome,  Joanna,  and  per- 
haps others,  came  with  their  spices,  as  by  previous  agree- 
ment, and  while  they  stood  there  amazed  and  perplexed 
(Luke  xxiv.  1-7),  tivo  men  stood  by  them  in  shining  gar- 
ments, and  said,  "  Why  seek  ye  the  living  among  the  dead  ? 
He  is  not  here,  but  is  risen  "  (is  raised).  They  hastily  de- 
parted, and  now,  or  perhaps  before  their  arrival,  Peter  and 


MATTHEW   XXVIII.  505 

John  reached  the  spot,  and  having  entered  the  tomb,  and 
seen  precisely  how  the  grave-clothes  were  laid,  they  went 
away,  leaving  Mary  Magdalene  behind.  She  stood  weeping 
by  the  sepulchre  (John  xx.  11-18)  when  two  angels  ap- 
peared to  her,  and  afterwards  Jesus  himself  addressed  her. 

There  is  no  certain  evidence  that  this  was  the  precise 
order  of  events.  Nor  is  there  any  necessity  for  supposing 
that  any  of  the  women  came  from  Bethany  that  morning. 
They  may  all  of  them  have  been  spending  the  Sabbath  in 
Jerusalem,  and  by  a  previous  agreement  may  have  left 
their  homes  in  different  parts  of  the  city  at  about  the 
same  time  to  go  to  the  sepulchre.  In  reading  such  nar- 
ratives we  should  not  forget  the  haste,  surprise,  and  aston- 
ishment which  must  have  characterized  the  transactions  of 
that  morning,  and  prevented  any  one  person  from  getting  at 
all  the  details  in  their  precise  order  of  succession  or  their 
exact  relations  to  one  another.  Traces  of  this  state  of  mind 
and  the  apparent  inconsistencies  growing  out  of  it  must  be 
expected,  and  are  to  be  found,  in  the  Gospels. 

The  Different  Accounts  not  Contradictory. 

But  are  there  any  important  contradictions  ?  1.  As  to 
the  persons.  According  to  Matthew,  Mary  Magdalene  and 
the  other  Mary  came  very  early,  &c.  Mark  mentions  Mary 
Magdalene,  Mary  the  mother  of  James,  and  Salome.  Luke 
speaks  of  Mary  Magdalene,  Mary  the  mother  of  James,  and 
Joanna,  and  the  other  women  who  were  with  them,  while 
John  makes  mention  only  of  Mary  Magdalene.  But  no 
one  professes  to  mention  all  the  women  who  were  there, 
and  it  would  be  natural  for  each  writer  to  call  by  name 
only  those  who  were  uppermost  in  his  own  mind.  John 
does  not  say  that  Mary  Magdalene  was  the  only  woman. 
On  the  contrary,  the  words  which  he  represents  her  as 
using,  ^^we  know  not  where  they  have  laid  him,"  imply 
that  others  had  been  with  her,  especially  as  after  her  return 
43 


506  MATTHEW    XXVIII. 

to  the  sepulchre,  when  she  was  left  alone,  she,  in  the  same 
form  of  expression  (John  xx.  13),  says,  "and  /know  not 
where  they  have  laid  him."  This  is  one  of  the  out-of-the- 
way  coincidences  which  go  to  establish  the  authority  of 
truthful  writings,  because  they  cannot  be  counterfeited. 

2.  As  to  the  angels.  Matthew  speaks  of  one  angel, 
whose  appearance  was  like  lightning,  and  his  raiment  white 
as  snow,  and  who  was  sitting  on  the  stone  that  had  been 
rolled  from  the  sepulchre.  Mark  (xvi.  5)  says,  that  when 
they  entered  or  came  to  the  sepulchre,  for  the  Greek  word 
may  have  either  meaning,  they  saw  a  young  man  sitting  on 
the  right  clothed  in  a  long  white  garment.  One  of  the  two 
writers  may  sjjeak  of  an  angel  outside,  and  the  other  of  an 
angel  within  the  sepulchre  ;  but  the  language  of  both  may 
equally  well  apply  to  the  same  angel  in  the  same  position, 
i.  e.  sitting  on  the  right  hand,  outside  of  the  sepulchre. 
Luke,  who  at  the  end  of  his  account  mentions  Mary  Mag- 
dalene, and  Joanna,  and  Mary  the  mother  of  James,  and 
the  other  women  with  them,  as  the  women  who  told  these 
things  to  the  Apostles,  would  naturally  confine  his  narrative 
of  occurrences  at  the  sepulchre  to  what  particularly  con- 
cerned that  portion  of  the  company  from  whom  his  informa- 
tion was  derived,  and  they  may  have  been  Joanna  and  the 
women  from  Galilee  who  were  with  her.  These  women 
may  have  come  a  little  later  than  the  others.  They  saw 
not  one,  but  tivo  angels,  and  them  not  sitting,  but  standing, 
and  speaking  to  them  in  language  very  different  from  that 
which  the  angel  had  spoken  to  the  other  women  (Luke 
xxiv.  5,  6,  22).  According  to  John,  Mary  Magdalene  saw 
no  angel  when  she  first  came  to  the  sepulchre,  and  Peter 
and  John,  who  came  with  her,  or  rather  a  httle  before  her, 
on  her  return  to  the  sepulchre,  saw  none,  though  they 
entered  the  sepulchre.  But  after  they  had  gone,  she,  stoop- 
ing down  to  look  into  the  sepulchre,  saw  there  two  angels 
in  white,  one  at  the  head  and  the  other  at  the  feet  where 
the  body  of  Jesus  had  lain.     This    is    plainly  a  different 


MATTHEW   XXVIII.  507 

transaction  from  that  which  is  described  by  the  other  Evan- 
gelists. The  inference  from  all  this  is,  that  Matthew  and 
Mark  describe  one  appearance,  Luke  another  to  a  different 
party,  and  John  still  a  third.  Where,  then,  is  the  contradic- 
tion or  inconsistency  ? 

3.  As  to  the  first  manifestation  of  Jesus.  According  to 
John  XX.  15-17,  he  appeared  first  to  Mary  Magdalene; 
according  to  Matthew,  he  appeared  to  the  women  as  they 
were  hastening  away  from  the  sepulchre.  Matthew  may 
have  generalized  the  occurrence  which  John  has  given  in 
detail,  and  represented  Jesus  as  appearing  to  the  women, 
when  as  a  literal  fact  he  appeared  to  only  one  of  their  num- 
ber. This  is  no  unusual  form  of  speech.  AYe  rather  infer, 
however,  from  the  narrative,  that  Jesus  appeared  twice,  viz. 
1.  to  Mary  Magdalene,  and  2.  to  the  women  who  had  been 
with  her  when  she  first  came  to  the  tomb. 

In  the  accounts  of  what  occurred  in  the  morning  there 
are  no  contradictions.  The  whole  period  taken  up  by  these 
events  probably  was  not  more  than  an  hour,  and  may  not 
have  been  half  that  time.  Yet  how  have  the  disclosures  of 
those  few  moments  revolutionized  the  world,  changing  its 
great  currents  of  thought  and  inaugurating  a  new  and  mo- 
mentous era  in  its  history  ! 

Leaving  the  events  of  the  morning,  the  writers  go  on  in 
very  different  ways.  After  a  paragraph  relating  to  the 
soldiers,  and  without  anything  to  indicate  the  time  or  events 
that  had  intervened,  Matthew  hastens  to  give  an  account 
of  the  meeting  which  Jesus  had  appointed  with  his  disciples 
in  Galilee.  Luke  details  in  full  the  meeting  of  Jesus  with 
two  disciples  [not  Apostles]  on  their  way  to  Emmaus  in  the 
afternoon,  and  his  appearance  to  the  Apostles  in  Jerusalem 
in  the  evening.  This  evening  appearance  of  Jesus  to  the 
Apostles  is  mentioned  by  John  (xx.  19  -23)  in  a  narrative 
which  is  remarkably  distinct  from  Luke's  account,  and  yet 
strikingly  corroborates  it.  Mark,  in  a  passage  (xv.  12  -  20) 
which  Tischendorf  rejects  as  not  belonging  to  the  Gospel, 


508  MATTHEW    XXVIII. 

says  that  Jesus  appeared  in  another  form  to  two  disciples 
as  thej  were  going  into  the  country ;  that  they  announced  it 
to  the  rest,  —  their  associates,  and  probably  not  the  Apostles, 
—  and  were  not  believed ;  and  that  afterwards  he  appeared 
to  the  eleven  as  they  were  at  meat,  and  reproached  them 
for  their  want  of  faith.  This  part  of  Mark's  Gospel  is  very 
much  condensed,  and  evidently  crowds  into  a  few  sentences 
sayings  and  events  which  were  separated  by  considerable 
intervals  of  time. 


The  Different  Times  of  his  Appearance. 

From  all  the  accounts  we  gather  that  Jesus  appeared,  — 
1.  to  Mary  Magdalen  (John  xx.  13  -  17)  ;  2.  to  the  [other] 
women  (Matt,  xxviii.  9,  10)  ;  3.  to  Peter  (Luke  xxiv.  34, 
1  Cor.  XV.  5)  ;  4.  to  the  two  disciples  on  their  way  to  Em- 
maus  (Luke  xxiv.  15),  which  may  possibly  have  been  before 
his  appearance  to  Peter ;  5.  to  the  Apostles  (Thomas  being 
absent)  at  supper  in  Jerusalem  (Luke  xxiv.  36-42,  John  xx. 
19,  20, 1  Cor.  XV.  5) ;  6.  on  the  next  Sunday  at  Jerusalem 
to  the  Apostles,  and  particularly  to  Tliomas  (John  xx.  26)  ; 
7.  to  above  five  hundred  of  the  brethren  at  once,  probably 
in  Galilee  (1  Cor.  xv.  6);  8.  to  James,  probably  also  in 
Galilee  (1  Cor.  xv.  7)  ;  9.  to  all  the  Apostles  (1  Cor.  xv. 
7),  probably  the  same  meeting  as  that  described  in  John 
xxi.  ;  10.  to  the  Apostles  on  a  mountain  in  Galilee  (Matt, 
xxviii.  16,  17),  which  may  be  the  same  as  his  appearance 
to  "above  five  hundred."  11.  There  is  the  charge  given  to 
the  Apostles  (Matt,  xxviii.  18-20,  Mark  xvi.  15-18)  with 
nothing  to  mark  the  time  or  place.  12.  There  is  the  last 
interview,  ending  with  his  Ascension  (Luke  xxiv.  44  -  50, 
Mark  xvi.  19,  20,  Acts  i.  4-  10).  But  as  Jesus  was  seen 
of  the  Apostles  from  time  to  time  for  forty  days  (Acts  i.  3), 
"  speaking  to  them  of  the  things  pertaining  to  the  kingdom 
of  God,"  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  these  were  the 
only  occasions  on  which  he  was  seen  by  them. 


MATTHEW    XXVIII.  509 

Matthew  (xxviii.  7,  10)  says  that  both  the  angel  and 
Jesus  directed  the  women  to  announce  a  meeting  of  the 
disciples  with  him  in  Galilee.  "  Go,  tell  my  brethren  that 
they  go  into  Galilee,  and  there  shall  they  see  me."  "Then," 
verse  16,  "the  eleven  disciples  went  away  into  Galilee,  into 
a  mountain  where  Jesus  had  appointed  them.  And  when 
they  saw  him,  they  worshipped  him  :  but  some  doubted." 
If  Matthew,  one  of  the  Apostles,  knew,  as  he  must  have 
known,  of  the  meeting  of  Jesus  with  the  Apostles  more  than 
once  in  Jerusalem,  how  could  he  fail  to, leave  some  record 
of  the  fact  in  his  narrative  ?  His  Gospel  is  only  a  sketch 
of  portions  of  our  Saviour's  life,  and  nowhere  professes  to 
give  a  full  account  of  everything  that  took  place  in  a  single 
instance.  His  whole  account  of  the  resurrection,  and  the 
sayings  and  events  connected  with  it,  contains  only  a  few 
more  words  than  it  requires  to  fill  one  of  these  pages.  A 
dry  summary  of  facts,  such  as  would  be  required  in  order 
to  bring  the  various  particulars  within  such  limits,  was  not 
at  all  after  his  manner  of  writing.  He  gives  the  salient 
acts  and  words  as  they  lie  most  prominent  in  his  mind, 
often  without  reference  to  the  intervening  or  accompanying 
circumstances.  He  belonged  to  Galilee,  and  may  have  gone 
thither  before  the  other  Apostles  to  call  the  disciples  who 
were  there  together  to  meet  their  risen  Lord.  In  this  way 
the  meeting  there  may,  after  an  interval  of  some  years, 
have  been  the  one  which  he  remembered  most  distinctly, 
and  which  he  therefore  selected  to  be  preserved  in  his  brief 
narrative.  The  points  which  he  relates  are  all  connected 
together.  On  the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  both  the 
angel  and  Jesus  speak  of  the  meeting  which  was  to  take 
place  in  Galilee,  and  after  stating  this,  and  inserting  by 
way  of  parenthesis  a  short  account  of  the  bargain  between 
the  elders  and  the  soldiers  in  regard  to  the  events  of  that 
morning,  Matthew  passes  over  all  that  took  place  in  Jeru- 
salem, and  hastens  on  to  the  meeting  in  Galilee. 

But  he  says  that  at  the  meeting  in  Galilee  "  some  doubt- 
43* 


510  MATTHEW   XXVIII. 

ed."  If  the  meetings  spoken  of  as  taking  place  in  Jerusa- 
lem had  really  taken  place,  how  could  there  have  been  this 
element  of  doubt  ?  There  is  nothing  to  show  that  the  meet- 
ing in  Galilee  was  confined  to  the  Eleven.  The  direction, 
"  Go,  tell  my  brethren,"  indicates  a  wider  circle.  St.  Paul 
speaks  of  Jesus  being  seen  by  above  five  hundred  at  once. 
And  it  certainly  would  not  be  strange  if  some  of  these  five 
hundred  came  in  an  unbeheving  state  of  mind.  The  honesty 
of  the  writer  who  recorded  the  doubt  is  more  remarkable 
than  that  the  doubt  should  exist  under  such  circumstances. 
The  great  and  important  omissions  which  must,  from  the 
nature  of  the  case,  belong  to  so  brief  a  narrative,  should 
make  us  slow  to  infer  that  even  important  facts  connected 
with  the  events  which  he  relates  either  did  not  take  place, 
or  were  unknown  to  the  writer,  because  they  are  not  men- 
tioned by  him.  This  consideration  has  had  too  little  weight 
both  with  those  who  defend  and  those  who  would  break 
down  the  authenticity  of  the  Gospel  narratives.  In  ac- 
counts which  from  their  very  nature  and  design  are  neces- 
sarily so  incomplete  and  fragmentary,  the  omission  of  any 
fact,  however  important  in  itself,  is  no  evidence  that  it  did 
not  take  place,  or  that  it  was  unknown  to  the  writer.  With 
so  many  facts  of  the  greatest  significance  and  weight  press- 
ing upon  him  for  admission,  and  yet  obliged  as  he  was  by 
the  necessities  of  the  case  to  exclude  most  of  them  from  his 
narrative,  it  ought  not  to  seem  strange  to  us  if  we  should 
find  wanting  in  his  brief  account  circumstances  as  interest- 
ing and  important  as  those  which  he  has  retained.  An 
accomplished  writer  in  these  times  would  probably  fill  a 
hundred  pages  where  St.  Matthew  did  one  with  the  ac- 
count of  what  transpired  between  the  Crucifixion  and  the 
Ascension.  One  closely  written  half-sheet  of  our  letter- 
paper  is  more  space  than  he  had  to  spare  for  his  record 
of  all  the  circumstances  connected  with  the  most  momentous 
event  in  the  history  of  our  race. 


MATTHEW   XXVIII.  5l| 

Each  Account  Independent  of  the  Rest. 

We  have  examined  in  their  relation  to  tlie  Resurrection 
of  Jesus  four  distinct  and  independent  narratives.  Neither 
of  them  could  have  been  drawn  from  one  or  from  all  the 
rest ;  for  each  has  some  characteristic  feature  of  its  own,  — 
not  only  characteristic  forms  of  expression,  but  statements 
of  fact  which  are  not  found  in  either  of  the  others.  Each 
of  the  writers  must  therefore  have  had  his  own  independent 
sources  of  information  ;  and  from  these  separate  sources  of 
information  they  all  testify  to  the  same  great  and  wonderful 
event,  not  in  general  terms,  but  each  one  in  his  own  way,  by 
facts,  and  incidental  shadings,  and  colorings  of  facts,  peculiar 
to  himself.  These  variations  are  in  some  cases  so  great, 
that  superficial  or  hostile  readers  have  sometimes  supposed 
them  to  be  utterly  irreconcilable.  But  a  thorough  exami- 
nation shows,  in  almost  every  case,  that  these  apparent  dis- 
crepancies may  be  harmoniously  adjusted,  and  thus  made  to 
corroborate  the  truthfulness  of  the  whole  account.  For 
example,  Mark  (xvi.  5)  says  that  the  women  entered  into 
the  sepulchre.  Matthew  says  nothing  about  their  entering 
into  it,  but  he  says  (xxviii.  8)  "  they  went  quickly  out  from 
the  sepulchre."  Or,  to  take  another  of  the  many  instances 
that  might  be  given,  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke  speak  of 
the  women  —  more  than  one  —  who  came  to  the  sepulchre 
early  on  the  morning  of  the  resurrection  ;  John  speaks  of 
Mary  Magdalene  alone.  Here  is  an  apparent  inconsistency. 
But  on  looking  carefully  into  John's  account,  we  find  Mary 
saying  to  Peter  and  John,  "They  have  taken  away  the 
Lord  from  the  sepulchre,  and  we  know  not  where  they 
have  laid  him,"  —  implying  the  presence  of  others  with 
them  at  the  tomb,  and  thus  undesignedly  corroborating  the 
accounts  of  the  other  Evangelists.  Now,  unless  Jesus  did 
actually  rise  from  the  dead,  and  meet  his  disciples,  and  talk 
with  them,  how  could  writings  so  independent  of  one  an- 


512  MATTHEW    XXVIII. 

Other,  and  apparently  so  inconsistent  with  one  another,  bring 
forward  such  a  variety  of  facts,  which  bear  upon  the  same 
point,  presenting  different  sides  and  features  of  the  same 
ease,  and  which,  notwithstanding  their  apparent  inconsist- 
encies, are  found,  on  a  minute  and  exact  investigation,  to 
harmonize  entirely  in  their  accounts  ? 

The  Resurrection  of  Jesus. 

But  we  do  not  like  to  dwell  on  this  great  and  life-giving 
event  as  critics.  It  comes  to  us  in  a  more  living  form,  and 
has  higher  lessons  to  teach. 

When  the  disciples  saw  that  their  Master  was  really 
dead,  their  most  dearly  cherished  hopes  and  expectations 
died  within  them.  They  must  have  been  hke  men  stunned 
by  a  violent  blow,  or  walking  in  some  terrible  dream,  hardly 
knowing  where  they  went  or  what  they  did.  The  women, 
less  mindful  of  consequences  and  more  true  to  the  loving 
instincts  of  their  nature,  followed  after  the  body  to  see 
where  it  was  laid,  when  it  was  hastily  embalmed  and 
entombed.  They  then  prepared  spices  and  gums,  that, 
when  the  Sabbath  was  ended,  they  might  come  back  again 
and  complete  the  rites  of  burial.  There  is  no  word  to 
show  how  the  Sabbath  was  spent,  —  that  first  day  of  sharp 
and  hopeless  grief,  whose  heavens  encircled  them  like  the 
wall  of  a  tomb  out  of  which  all  joy  and  hope  were  gone, 
and  when  there  was  nothing  left  to  them  but  a  shuddering 
sense  of  dreariness  and  death.  The  Sabbath  interposed  its 
merciful  release  from  care  and  toil,  till  they  had  recovered 
somewhat  from  the  first  benumbing  shock  of  misery.  But 
with  the  first  day  of  the  week,  the  first  Christian  Sunday, 
they  are  up  before  the  earKest  dawn.  Their  grief  must 
find  expression  and  relief  in  some  act  of  grateful  remem- 
brance, though  only  to  the  body  of  him  whom  they  had 
followed  with  such  intensity  of  love  and  reverence.  While 
it  is  yet  dark,  from  Bethany,  from  different  parts  of  Jeru- 


MATTHEW   XXVIII.  513 

salem,  by  previous  agreement,  or  with  the  spontaneous  move- 
ment prompted  by  a  common  impulse,  they  are  on  their 
way,  talking  sadly  as  they  go,  and  asking  wlio  shall  remove 
for  them  the  heavy  stone  which  had  been  placed  against  the 
mouth  of  the  sepulchre. 

But  it  had  been  removed.  Mary  Magdalene,  the  most 
ardent  and  impetuous  of  their  number,  having  come  first 
within  sight  of  the  sepulchre  and  seen  the  stone  rolled  away, 
ran  to  Peter  and  John,  with  a  fresh  outburst  of  grief,  to  say 
that  even  the  consolation  of  paying  the  last  sad  rites  of 
burial  had  been  taken  from  them.  "They  have  taken  away 
the  Lord,  and  we  know  not  where  they  have  laid  him." 
The  other  women,  who  were  a  little  behind  her,  went  to 
the  tomb,  and  saw  an  angel  clothed  in  white,  sitting  on  the 
stone  which  had  been  rolled  away.  He  asked  them,  "  Why 
seek  ye  the  living  among  the  dead  ?  He  is  not  here,  but 
is  risen."  They  fly  with  the  intelligence.  Other  women, 
from  other  parts  of  the  city,  come,  and  see  two  angels. 
Then  Peter  and  John  come  running  to  the  tomb,  which 
they  enter,  and  seeing  how  the  grave-clothes  are  laid,  one 
of  them  at  least  believes  that  he  is  risen  from  the  dead. 
Mary  Magdalene  returns,  and,  as  she  stands  weeping  by 
the  tomb,  two  angels  appear  to  her.  Then,  her  eyes 
blinded  with  tears,  she  perceives  some  one  whom  she  sup- 
poses to  be  the  gardener.  He  asks  her  why  she  is  weeping, 
and  whom  she  seeks.  She  says  to  him,  in  the  sharpness  of 
her  grief,  "  If  thou  hast  borne  him  hence,  tell  me  where 
thou  hast  laid  him,  and  I  will  take  him  away."  Then,  in 
tones  which  could  not  be  mistaken,  he  called  her  by  name. 
She  turned  to  him  with  an  exclamation  of  surprise  and  rev- 
erence, and  went  away  bearing  with  her  to  the  disciples  the 
wonderful  intelligence.  But  it  seemed  to  them  as  an  idle 
tale,  and  they  believed  her  not.  They  ran  from  one  to 
another,  telling  and  hearing,  —  not  believing  what  they 
heard,  yet  repeating  it  to  others,  and  impatient  with  those 
who  did  not  believe, — thrilled  with  expectation  and  wonder. 


514  MATTHEW   XXVIII. 

But  the  truth  breaks  upon  them.  "  The  Lord  is  risen  in- 
deed." It  is  the  creation  of  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth 
to  them.  The  tomb  has  given  up  its  dead,  and  Death  him- 
self, discrowned  and  disarmed,  leaves  its  terrors  at  the  foot 
of  the  cross,  and  through  the  gate  which  it  has  opened 
points  upward  to  the  realms  of  eternal  life.  What  occurred 
to  Jesus  while  he  was  among  the  dead  is  unknown,  beyond 
what  may  be  inferred  from  his  words  upon  the  cross :  "  This 
day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise."  If  the  Evangehsts 
had  been  unscrupulous  men,  earnest  to  make  the  most  of 
their  subject,  by  ministering  to  the  diseased  taste  for  prying 
into  the  things  which  have  been  wisely  hidden  from  us, 
what  tales  of  wonder  would  they  have  told  of  his  experience 
there  !  But  there  is  nothing  of  this.  And  there  is  the  same 
reserve  in  regard  to  all  the  details  which  could  only  serve 
to  excite  and  gratify  an  idle  or  a  dangerous  curiosity.  The 
great  fact  of  the  resurrection  of  Him  who  is  the  resurrection 
and  the  hfe  to  all  who  live  and  believe  in  him,  is  set  forth 
in  language  which  cannot  be  explained  away.  He  came 
forth,  a  new  sun,  from  the  dark  and  universal  night  of 
death,  to  throw  the  radiance  of  a  triumphant  morning  over 
the  tombs  of  the  world,  to  drive  away  the  shadows  that 
pressed  everywhere  so  heavily  on  human  hearts,  to  unfold 
to  them  the  joy  and  gladness  of  the  eternal  life,  to  revolu- 
tionize the  religious  ideas  of  the  world,  and  create  a  new 
life  in  the  souls  of  men.  It  was  so  with  the  Apostles  of 
Jesus  Christ.  It  has  been  so  with  his  followers  since,  from 
generation  to  generation.  New  hopes,  new  principles  of 
thought  and  life,  new  aspirations  and  desires,  have  been 
awakened  and  cherished.  No  earthly  gloom  can  over- 
shadow the  light.  They  whose  plans  and  expectations 
here  are  all  broken  up,  to  whom  this  life,  devoted  to  the 
highest  ends,  has  sometimes  seemed  an  utter  failure,  behold 
now,  in  that  world  beyond,  a  new  sphere  of  activity  and 
power,  where  plans  here  broken  up  shall  be  renewed,  where 
hopes  here  dead  shall  live  again,  where  aspirations  doomed 


MATTHEW   XXVIII.    19.  515 

here  to  a  perpetual  disappointment  shall  find  their  fulfil- 
ment, and  visions  of  holiness  and  joy  and  blessed  compan- 
ionship with  others,  which  were  here  mocked  with  a  per- 
petual rebuff,  shall  embody  themselves  in  the  glorious 
realities  which  live  around  them.  And  most  of  all,  the 
sinful  and  rejected,  alienated  from  God  and  wandering 
away  from  their  own  happiness  and  rest,  dead  to  all  the 
best  hopes  and  instincts  of  the  soul,  may  find  in  him  new- 
ness of  life,  reconcihation,  atonement  through  his  death  and 
resurrection  from  the  dead,  if  they  come  with  penitent  and 
trusting  hearts  to  him.  "  But  now  is  Christ  risen  from  the 
dead,  and  become  the  first-fruits  of  them  that  slept."  (1  Cor. 
XV.  20.)  "  If  ye  then  be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those 
things  which  are  above,  where  Christ  sitteth  on  the  right 
hand  of  God."  (Col.  iii.  1.)  "  To  him  that  overcometh 
will  I  grant  to  sit  with  me  in  my  throne,  even  as  I  also 
overcame,  and  am  set  down  with  my  Father  in  his  throne." 
(Rev.  iii.  21.)  If  the  Lord  is  risen  within  us,  we  have 
passed  already  from  death  unto  life,  and  death  can  have 
dominion  over  us  no  more.  Let  not  the  greatness  of  his 
promises  overwhelm  and  confound  and  oppress  us  as  reveal- 
ing too  briglit  a  glory  and  too  great  a  joy  for  us  to  bear ; 
but  through  our  faith  in  him,  and  our  fidelity  to  him,  may 
his  immortal  energies  unfold  themselves  within  us. 

19.  —  The  Formula  of  Baptism. 

"  Go  ye,  and  make  disciples  of  all  nations,  baptizing  them 
into  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost."  Sectarian  writers  generally  maintain  that 
their  peculiar  views  of  the  Trinity,  whatever  they  may  be, 
and  they  are  many  and  various,  are  taught  in  this  formula. 
There  can  be  no  doubt,  we  think,  that  the  words  were  in- 
tended by  our  Saviour  to  indicate  the  broad  outlines  of 
Christian  belief,  as  distinguished  from  every  other  system  of 
religious  faith.     They  teach  not  merely  a  belief  in  God,  but 


516  MATTHEW     XXVIII.    19. 

in  God  as  he  is  revealed  to  us  in  Christ,  and  as  he  acts  upon 
us  by  his  sanctifying  influences,  or  his  Holy  Spirit.  Tlie 
religion  which  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  teach,  and  into 
which  those  who  would  be  his  disciples  are  to  be  initiated,  is 
not  a  more  elevated  form  of  Deism,  or  a  refinement  on  Juda- 
ism. It  has  elements,  implied  in  the  baptismal  form,  which 
are  peculiar  to  itself,  and  which  deeply  affect  the  character 
of  its  disciples,  and  the  nature  of  their  worship.  If  the  New 
Testament  should  be  divested  of  all  that  is  said  in  it .  about 
Jesus  Christ  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  leaving  to  us  only  what  is 
revealed  of  the  Infinite  Father,  our  religion  would  lose  much 
of  what  most  commends  it  to  our  hearts.  God  would  be 
thrown  back  into  the  distant  heavens.  Our  conceptions  of 
him  would  become  remote,  and  our  feelings  towards  him 
chilled.  He  would  not  connect  himself  as  he  now  does  with 
the  loving  reverence  that  draws  us  towards  him,  and  makes 
us  look  up  to  him,  not  with  awe  alone,  but  with  tears  of 
trusting  gratitude  and  affection.  As  we  follow  Jesus,  in  the 
Gospels,  through  his  ministry,  and  hear  his  words  and  im- 
bibe his  spirit,  we  feel  that  he  is  to  us  the  manifestation  of 
the  Father,  that  he  brings  God  in  all  his  gentle  and  endear- 
ing attributes  home  to  our  hearts,  connecting  him  Avith  our 
fireside  affections,  and  giving  warmth  and  tenderness,  and  a 
sense  of  trust  and  nearness  to  us  in  our  devotions.  So  like- 
wise our  feelings  towards  God  are  modified  by  what  is 
taught  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  dwells  a  sanctifying  pres- 
ence and  influence  in  the  soul,  subduing  our  hearts,  forming 
them  anew  through  a  divine  life  into  the  image  of  God,  till 
his  love  pervades  all  our  affections,  purges  away  all  bitter- 
ness, and  is  breathed  out  from  us  in  our  daily  thoughts  and 
acts. 

Here  is  a  type  of  character  and  of  piety  altogether  unlike 
those  which  proceed  from  any  other  religious  dispensation. 
And  the  influences  under  which  it  is  formed  are  in  some 
way  or  other  connected  with  the  formula  of  Christian  bap- 
tism.    All  the  agencies  —  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  — 


MATTHEW     XXVIII.    19.  517 

unite  to  create  in  us  the  highest  type  of  Christian  worship 
and  the  Christian  Ufe.  They  who  cherish  that  worship  and 
that  life  feel  themselves  bound  together  by  a  powerful  bond 
of  sympathy  and  union.  They  are  drawn  to  one  another, 
and  feel  that  wherever  two  or  three  are  gathered  together 
in  his  name,  there  is  Jesus  in  the  midst  of  them.  They  are 
brought  into  communion  with  him  and  with  heavenly  things. 
Inward  life,  strength,  peace,  is  imparted  to  them,  and  a 
nearer  intimacy  with  heaven. 

Now,  why  cannot  the  whole  Christian  world  fall  back  on 
the  great  Scriptural  expressions  which  address  themselves 
with  such  power  to  the  imagination  and  the  heart,  and  feed 
the  inmost  springs  of  thought  and  life  ?  Why  not  be  satis- 
fied with  the  way  in  which  the  doctrine  has  been  taught  by 
Jesus  and  his  disciples  ?  Why  refine  upon  their  words,  or 
cover  them  over  with  our  metaphysical  distinctions,  or  tie 
them  up  by  our  definitions,  till  the  simplicity,  the  power,  and 
the  freedom  of  the  divine  revelation  is  lost  ?  Those  living 
words,  which  come  to  us  always  in  the  perennial  greenness 
of  a  divine  creation,  with  thought  enough  to  exhaust  the 
intellect  of  the  profoundest  philosopher,  while  they  come 
home  also  to  the  heart  and  apprehension  of  a  child,  the 
moment  they  are  stript  of  their  freedom,  and  drawn  up  into 
a  creed,  lose  their  charm,  and  become  unsatisfactory,  barren, 
and  dead. 

Whatever  the  doctrine  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost  may  be  in  its  last  analysis,  —  a  point  which  no 
mind  of  mortal  man  will  ever  be  able  to  reach,  —  it  does 
not  in  the  Scriptures  offer  itself  to  us  under  any  metaphys- 
ical formula.  We  find  a  part  of  it  used  by  Peter  as  a  heart- 
felt expression  of  grateful  trust :  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  the  living  God."  (Matt.  xvi.  16.)  It  was  breathed 
out  in  a  promise  of  unspeakable  tenderness :    "  I  will  not 

leave  you  comfortless ;  I  will  come  to  you Because  I 

live,  ye  shall  live  also."  (John  xiv.  18, 19.)  "I  will  pray 
the  Father,  and  he  shall  give  you  another  Comforter,  that 
44 


518  MATTHEW   XXVIII.    19. 

he  may  abide  with  you  forever."  (John  xiv.  16.)  And  in 
the  prayer  after  the  last  Supper,  "  And  this  is  Hfe  eternal, 
that  they  might  know  thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus 
Christ  whom  thou  hast  sent."  (John  xvii.  3.)  It  was  uttered 
more  fully  in  the  baptismal  service.  It  revealed  itself  to  the 
first  martyr,  when  at  his  death  he  saw  the  glory  of  God, 
and  cried,  "  Behold,  I  see  the  heavens  opened,  and  the  Son 
of  man  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God."  (Acts  vii.  56.) 
It  came  as  a  benediction  from  St.  Paul,  when,  yearning  to- 
wards his  converts  with  desires  which  no  other  language 
could  express,  he  said,  "  The  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  love  of  God,  and  the  communion  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  be  with  you  all."  (2  Cor.  xiii.  13.)  And  in 
the  Apocalypse  it  appears  as  a  solemn  ascription  in  the  tri- 
umphal scene,  where  "  a  great  multitude,  which  no  man 
could  number,  of  all  nations  and  kindreds  and  people  and 
tongues,  stood  before  the  throne,  and  before  the  Lamb, 
clothed  with  white  robes,  and  palms  in  their  hands,  and  cried 
with  a  loud  voice,  saying,  '  Salvation  to  our  God  who  sitteth 
upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb.' "  (Rev.  vii.  9,  10.) 
These  were  the  earliest  expressions  of  the  doctrine,  —  not 
metaphysical  abstractions,  or  subtile  distinctions,  or  articles 
of  faith,  —  but  a  promise  full  of  tenderness,  a  prayer,  a 
benediction,  or  an  anthem.  And  so  it  continued  to  be  at 
least  for  three  centuries  after  Christ.  The  early  Christians 
had  too  deep  an  interest  in  him,  and  were  bound  to  him  by 
affections  too  strong  and  full  of  life,  to  attempt  by  any  poor 
refinements  or  definitions  of  theirs  to  analyze  and  set  forth 
the  mysteries  of  his  nature.  Least  of  all  did  they  attempt 
to  bind  them  up  in  articles  of  faith.  They  were  guided  by 
a  higher  wisdom  than  that  And  herein  let  us  learn  of 
them.  Man's  thoughts  respecting  God  change.  Words 
lose  their  power.  "  The  words  of  that  creed,  for  example, 
which  we  read  last  Sunday  (the  Athanasian),  were  living 
words  a  few  centuries  ago.  They  have  changed  their  mean- 
ing, and  are,  to  ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred,  only  dead 


MATTHEW    XXVIII.  510 

words.  Yet  men  tenaciously  hold  to  the  expressions  of 
which  they  do  not  understand  the  meaning,  and  which  have  a 
very  different  meaning  now  from  that  they  had  once,  —  Per- 
son, Procession,  Substance  ;  and  they  are  almost  worse  with 
them  than  without  them,  —  for  they  conceal  their  ignorance, 
and  place  a  harrier  against  the  earnestness  of  inquiry^ 
(Robertson's  Sermons,  First  Series,  p.  73.)  But  worse  than 
this,  they  oppress  humble,  sensitive,  and  conscientious  souls, 
and  often  either  bind  them  to  forms  of  belief  which  they 
cannot  accept,  or  drive  them  away  from  a  communion  which 
their  religious  instincts  crave,  and  to  which  they  are  bound 
by  the  dearest  and  most  sacred  associations.  "  It  is  a  re- 
markable and  indisputable  fact,  that  if  Christ  were  to  come 
on  earth  unknown,  and  say  anything  or  everything  which 
he  is  recorded  to  have  said  while  on  earth,  that  and  no 
more,  it  would  not  be  sufficient  for  his  admission  into  any 
[so-called]  Evangelical  church :  no  bishop  could  lay  hands 
on  him  without  violating  his  rubric ;  no  synod  ordain  him 
as  a  preacher."  We  quote  this  extraordinary  statement 
from  an  abstract  of  a  sermon  by  Rev.  George  Putnam,  D.  D. 
Its  truth  cannot  be  denied.  And  it  is  a  fact  of  terrible  sig- 
nificance to  those  who  hold,  as  essential  to  church-member- 
ship here  and  to  salvation  hereafter,  terms  of  intellectual 
belief  which  would  exclude  from  their  communion  the 
Saviour  himself,  unless  he  should  consent  to  add  some  new 
and  more  explicit  articles  of  faith  to  those  which  the  Evan- 
gelists and  Apostles  have  left  on  record. 

CoxcLUDiNG  Remarks. 

The  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew  begins  with  an  account  of  the 
human  and  the  divine  parentage  of  Christ,  his  earthly  hu- 
miliation, though  descended  from  patriarchs  and  kings,  and 
his  more  than  earthly  dignity  and  greatness,  though  placed 
in  the  lowliest  walks  of  life.  This  twofold  aspect  of  his 
life  appears  throughout  the  Gospel.      His   humility  shows 


520  MATTHEW     XXVIII. 

itself  amidst  his  mightiest  works,  and  even  when  he  as- 
sumes an  authority  beyond  all  that  man  has  ever  claimed. 
And  wherever  his  humiliation  and  helplessness  are  most 
apparent,  there  his  majesty  shines  forth.  This  humility 
and  grandeur,  the  most  difficult  combination  in  the  life  and 
character,  are  easily  and  harmoniously  combined  and  carried 
out  from  beginning  to  end.  There  is  no  one  act  or  word  to 
mar  the  beautiful  and  always  living  consistency  of  the  por- 
traiture. Except  in  the  other  Gospels,  no  other  such  nar- 
rative, nor  anything  which  makes  any  approach  to  it,  is  to 
be  found  in  the  Hterature  of  the  world.  Those  who  have 
followed  us  through  our  work,  reading  the  Gospel  itself  more 
than  our  comments  upon  it,  who  have  entered  into  the  mar- 
vellous depth  and  elevation  of  its  thought,  and  of  the  life 
in  which,  more  than  by  any  words,  its  thought  is  revealed, 
must,  we  think,  see  in  them  the  workings  of  a  power  more 
wonderful  than  any  miracles  that  were  wrought,  though  on 
the  side  of  its  active  manifestation  it  would  find  in  miracles 
only  its  natural  forms  of  expression.  But  with  all  this  ex- 
hibition of  power,  there  is  nothing  strained,  and  nowhere 
any  appearance  of  effort.  The  language,  even  when  charged 
with  the  weightiest  burden  of  meaning,  or  rising  to  the  sub- 
limest  heights,  is,  in  its  naturalness  and  simplicity,  fitted  to 
be  the  reading  of  a  child.  When  we  go  into  the  Epistles, 
especially  those  of  St.  Paul,  we  are  conscious  of  a  change. 
The  same  ideas  come  up  to  be  applied  under  new  circum- 
stances, or  carried  out  into  their  more  distant  results.  But 
we  feel  the  strain  that  is  put  upon  the  language,  and  the 
efforts  that  are  made  by  the  writer  to  keep  up  with  the 
greatness  of  his  theme. 

Christ  came  to  establish  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on 
earth.  Perhaps  we  may  say  that  this  is  the  central  idea  of 
the  Evangelist.  The  Baptist  came  to  announce  it,  and  its 
near  approach  was  the  burden  of  his  preaching.  It  was  the 
key-note  to  the  ministry  of  Jesus.  "  From  that  time  Jesus 
began  to  preach,  and  to  say,  'Repent,  for  the  kingdom  of 


MATTHEW    XXVIII.  521 

Heaven  is  at  hand.' "  In  his  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  he  un- 
folded the  nature  of  that  kingdom  ;  and,  beginning  with  the 
Beatitudes,  showed  how  it  was  to  absorb  into  itself  the  Law 
and  the  Prophets,  and  refine  their  precepts  into  the  prin- 
ciples of  a  spiritual  and  divine  life.  From  time  to  time, 
as  his  disciples  could  bear,  and  beyond  what  they  could 
bear,  he  brought  forward  the  graces  and  charities  which 
were  peculiarly  his  own,  and  established  a  sincere  and  child- 
like humility  of  soul  as  the  one  essential  condition  of  pre- 
eminence in  his  kingdom.  "  Whosoever  wishes  to  be  great 
among  you,  let  him  be  your  servant ;  and  whosoever  wishes 
to  be  first  among  you,  let  him  be  your  slave."  Only  he 
who,  unmindful  of  his  own  interests,  binds  himself  by  the 
severest  obhgations  to  serve  others,  can  hope  for  the  highest 
place  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  This  heavenly  kingdom,  or 
kingdom  of  Heaven  on  earth,  is  explained  and  illustrated  by 
precept  and  parable  and  symbolical  act  It  is  represented 
as  already  here,  a  divine  influence  and  agency  in  the  world. 
He  speaks  of  the  time,  then  not  far  removed,  when  he  should 
"  come  in  his  kingdom  "  (xvi.  28),  "  on  the  clouds  of  heaven 
with  power  and  great  glory"  (xxiv.  30).  He  speaks  of  it, 
at  other  times,  as  reaching  above  and  beyond  this  world  in 
its  acts  and  retributions  (xvi.  19,  xxv.  31-46).  In  the 
last  words  of  the  Gospel,  he  speaks  of  its  final  consum- 
mation, —  whether  on  earth  or  in  worlds  beyond,  he 
does  not  say  ;  for  time  and  space  are  only  occasional, 
and,  as  it  were,  accidental  accompaniments  to  his  thought, 
which  reaches  through  and  beyond  all  that  belongs  to 
them. 

But  in  the  closing  words  of  the  Gospel,  taken  in  connec- 
tion with  all  that  has  gone  before,  we  have  indicated  to  us 
the  great  Mediatorial  office  and  kingdom  of  Christ,  for 
which,  as  its  head  and  king,  all  authority  on  the  earth  and 
in  heaven  has  been  given  to  him,  and  for  the  advancement 
of  which  he  sends  forth  his  messengers  into  every  land, 
promising  himself  to  be  always  with  them  until  the  whole 
44* 


522  MATTHEW  XX vm. 

shall  be  fulfilled.  Here  in  this  world  are  its  beginnings, 
and,  to  a  certain  extent,  its  progress  with  each  individual 
soul,  and  with  the  race  from  generation  to  generation.  It  is 
a  spiritual  kingdom  in  which  Christ  reigns,  coming  down 
into  this  sphere  of  human  interests  and  souls,  dispensing  its 
divine  influences  more  and  more,  as  men  are  prepared  to 
receive  them  from  age  to  age,  taking  up  into  itself  whatever 
is  highest  and  holiest  in  man's  thought,  to  infuse  into  it  a 
diviner  life,  to  lay  upon  it  the  hand  of  a  holier  ordination, 
and  set  it  apart  for  a  higher  purpose,  using  present  attain- 
ments, never  as  ends,  but  always  as  instruments  and  helps  to 
a  further  progress,  translating  its  faithful  subjects  as  the 
ransomed  of  the  Lord  from  earthly  experience  to  heavenly 
fruition  in  what  is  to  each  one  of  them.  "  the  end  of  the 
world." 

Christ  came  to  establish  this  kingdom  among  men.  He 
has  revealed  to  us  its  nature,  its  agencies,  and  its  design, 
in  words  of  calmness  and  power.  He  has  promised  to  be 
always  with  us  while  we  are  laboring  to  unfold  its  truths,  to 
enforce  its  precepts,  and  establish  its  authority  on  the  earth. 
His  words  (xiii.  41,  xxv.  34)  point  also  to  an  influence  and 
a  kingly  office  which  he  is  to  have  beyond  this  mortal  life 
and  world.  But  the  idea  which  he  introduced  is  taken  up 
by  St.  Paul,  and  carried  on  into  its  remote  and  final  results 
with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  his  fervid  and  powerful  mind. 

Perhaps  we  cannot  give  a  more  striking  example  of  the 
difference  between  Christ's  method  of  instruction,  as  shown 
in  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  and  Paul's,  as  shown  in  his 
Epistles,  than  is  furnished  by  what  they  have  taught  on  this 
subject.  The  teachings  of  Christ  we  have  already  consid- 
ered. St.  Paul  delights  to  enlarge  and  expatiate  upon 
them.  With  him  this  idea  of  the  Mediatorial  kingdom  of 
Christ  reaches  we  know  not  how  high  into  the  realms  of 
light,  or  how  far  below  into  the  realms  of  darkness,  extend- 
ing back  in  its  preparation  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  and  forward  through  we  know  not  what  succession 


MATTHEW   XXVIII.  523 

of  ages  upon  ages,  till  at  length,  working  out  its  mighty 
evolutions,  every  opposing  rule  and  authority  and  power  is 
subdued  and  overthrown,  and  it  has  accomplished  its  design 
as  one  of  the  aeons  of  eternal  love  and  wisdom,  and  Christ 
in  triumph  shall  give  back  into  his  Father's  hands  the  king- 
dom and  the  authority  which  are  now  intrusted  to  him.  In 
looking  to  the  new  worlds  of  spiritual  life  and  joy  which 
have  been  created  in  the  advent  and  progress  of  that  king- 
dom, through  every  part  of  which  Christ's  influence  extends 
as  a  redeeming,  creative,  and  sustaining  presence,  he  thus 
speaks  :  "  Giving  thanks  unto  the  Father,  who  hath  made 
us  meet  to  be  partakers  of  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in 
light;  who  hath  delivered  us  from  the  power  of  darkness, 
and  hath  translated  us  into  the  kingdom  of  his  dear  Son,  in 
whom  we  have  the  redemption  ["  through  his  blood "  is 
omitted  by  Tischendorf],  the  forgiveness  of  sins  ;  who  is  an 
image  of  God,  first-born  of  all  creation  ;  because  in  him 
were  all  created  that  are  in  the  heavens  and  upon  the  earth, 
visible  and  invisible,  whether  thrones  or  dominations  or 
principalities  or  authorities,  —  all  were  created  through  him 
and  to  him,  and  he  is  before  all,  and  all  stand  together  in 
him,  and  he  is  the  head  of  the  body,  the  Church,  who  is 
first,  being  first  born  from  the  dead,  that  he  might  be  pre- 
eminent in  all."  (Coh  i.  12-18.)  Carrying  his  thoughts 
on  into  other  worlds,  respecting  which  there  is  a  sacred 
reserve  in  our  Saviour's  communications,  St.  Paul  delights 
to  speak  of  the  homage  which  was  there  paid  to  his  Re- 
deemer, when  God  "  raised  him  from  the  dead  and  set  him 
at  his  own  right  hand  among  the  heavenly  ones,  far  above 
all  principality  and  power  and  might  and  dominion,  and 
every  name  that  is  named,  not  only  in  this  world  [aeon],  but 
in  that  which  is  to  come,  and  hath  put  all  things  under  his 
feet,  and  gave  him  to  be  head  over  all  things  to  the  Church, 
which  is  his  body,  the  fulness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all." 
(Eph.  i.  20  -  23.)  His  language  glows  with  a  new  intensity, 
and  rises  into  a  more  majestic  grandeur  and  a  loftier  har- 


524  MATTHEW   XXVIII. 

mony,  as  he  catches  from  beyond  this  world  glimpses  of  the 
active  power  of  Christ,  the  still  advancing  progress  of  his 
victorious  kingdom,  or  its  last  and  crowning  triumph.  "  Fi- 
Dally,"  —  we  quote  from  the  translation  of  Conybeare  and 
Hovvson,  — "  the  end  shall  come,  when  he  shall  give  up  his 
kingdom  to  God  his  Father,  having  destroyed  all  other 
powers  which  claim  rule  and  sway.  For  his  kingdom  must 
last  '  till  he  hath  put  all  enemies  under  his  feet.'  And  last 
of  his  enemies,  death  also  shall  be  destroyed.  For  '  God 
hath  put  all  things  under  his  feetJ  But  in  that  saying,  '  all 
things  are  put  under  him,'  it  is  manifest  that  God  is  except- 
ed, who  put  all  things  under  him.  And  when  all  things  are 
made  subject  to  him,  then  shall  the  Son  also  subject  himself 
[himself  be  made  subject]  to  Him  who  made  them  subject, 
that  God  may  be  all  in  all."     (1  Cor.  xv.  24-  28.) 

There  is  a  singular  grandeur  and  a  far-reaching  grasp  of 
thought  in  these  views  which  St.  Paul  has  given  of  the  Me- 
diatorial kingdom  and  office  of  Christ.  But  we  see  in  his 
language  marks  of  effort  and  excitement,  the  strugglings  of 
a  mind,  however  great  and  inspired  it  may  have  been,  to 
master  his  vast  theme,  and  to  find  language  in  which  to 
embody  his  conceptions.  But  the  words  of  Jesus  come  to 
us  as  the  unexcited  and  easy  utterances  of  one  who  is 
speaking  without  effort,  and  by  no  means  above  the  level 
of  his  daily  and  familiar  thought.  They  lie  before  us  in 
the  calm  sunlight  of  God's  truth  and  the  bosom  of  his  love. 
Great  as  they  are,  they  plainly  come  from  one  who  is 
greater  than  they,  and  in  whom  it  is  an  act  of  condescension 
rather  than  of  exaltation  to  set  them  forth,  and  to  illustrate, 
explain,  and  enforce  them,  as  a  Master  to  his  disciples,  while 
an  air  of  divine  authority  and  of  unspeakable  tenderness 
distinguishes  alike  his  words  to  them  and  all  his  deportment 
towards  them.  Whatever  we  may  find  in  the  language  of 
the  Apostles,  —  and  no  other  writers  have  ever  approached- 
them  in  richness  of  spiritual  thought  or  loftiness  of  concep- 
tion and  of  speech,  —  when  we  read  the  words  and  the  life 


MATTHEW   XXVIII.  525 

of  Jesus,  we  feel,  as  did  the  officers  who  were  sent  to  appre- 
hend him,  that  "  never  man  spake  [or  Hved]  hke  this  man." 
But  in  studying  the  Gospels  we  must  beware  of  placing 
ourselves  too  much  in  the  attitude  of  critics  and  judges, 
even  though  it  be  to  confirm  their  authority.  The  word 
that  Christ  hath  spoken  shall  judge  us,  and  not  be  judged 
by  us.  Our  posture  is  that  of  loving,  trusting,  inquiring, 
and  believing  disciples.  We  come  with  no  theories  of  our 
own  to  establish,  but  with  a  single  purpose  and  desire  to 
learn  the  true  meaning  of  his  words  of  eternal  life,  and 
what  he  would  have  us  to  do.  It  is  sad  to  think  with  what 
"  a  veil  upon  their  hearts  "  the  great  majority  of  the  Chris- 
tian world  come  when  they  would  study  the  Gospel  of 
Christ.  They  can  receive  from  the  boundless  affluence  of 
his  instructions  only  so  much  as  may  be  in  accordance,  not 
only  with  their  present  moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  cul- 
ture, but  with  formulas  of  faith  drawn  up  and  established  by 
the  authority  of  man.  Christ  speaks  to  the  individual  soul, 
and  holds  each  one  of  us  to  a  severe  and  solemn  sense  of 
accountability  to  himself,  from  which  no  authority  on  earth 
can  ever  absolve  us.  The  one  distinguishing  feature  of  his 
Gospel  is  the  way  in  which  it  addresses  itself  to  the  individ- 
ual consciousness,  and  demands  from  each  one  a  direct  and 
personal  allegiance  to  him.  The  more  universal  the  truths 
which  he  proclaimed,  the  more  directly  should  they  come 
home  to  each  heart  and  draw  it  towards  himself  Almost 
every  word  that  he  spoke,  whether  for  doctrine,  reproof, 
correction,  or  instruction  and  encouragement  in  righteous- 
ness, comes  to  us,  not  only  as  a  truth  on  which  our  minds 
should  dwell,  but  as  a  precept  which  we  should  take  home 
to  our  hearts  and  carry  with  us  in  our  lives.  In  this  way 
his  words  may  become  spirit  and  life  to  us.  And  his  last 
directions  to  his  followers,  instead  of  furnishing  matter  for 
theological  disputations,  may  be  dwelt  upon  and  cherished 
and  obeyed  as  if  addressed  to  each  one  of  us  with  all  the 
weight  of  his  commandment,  with  all  the  fulness  of  his  in- 


526 


MATTHEW   XXVIII. 


structlon,  with  all  the  tenderness  of  his  love,  and  with  the 
certainty  that  to  every  one  of  us  his  promise  will  be  ful- 
filled. "  All  power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  on 
earth.  Go  ye  and  make  disciples  of  all  nations,  baptizing 
them  into  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  what- 
soever I  have  commanded  you  :  and  lo,  I  am  with  you 
alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 


NOTES. 


In  the  end  of  the  sabbath,  as  it  began  to  dawn  toward  the 
first  day  of  the  week,  came  Mary  Magdalene,  and  the  other 
Mary,  to  see  the  sepulchre.  And,  behold,  there  was  a  great 
earthquake  ;  for  the  angel  of  the  Lord  descended  from  heaven, 
and  came  and  rolled  back  the  stone  from  the  door,  and  sat 
upon  it.     His  countenance  was  hke  lightning,  and  his  raiment 


1.  In  the  end  of  the  sab- 
bath, as  it  began  to  dawn 
toward  the  first  day  of  the 
week]  The  Jewish  Sabbath,  it 
■will  be  remembered,  con-esponds 
with  our  Saturday.  The  day 
ended  at  sunset.  The  passage 
may  be  rendered,  Aft^r  the  Sab- 
bath, as  it  began,  &c.  "  No  mortal 
eye,"  says  Dr.  Carpenter,  "  wit- 
nessed the  glorious  moment  Avhen 
the  Son  of  God  came  forth  from  the 
tomb,  the  first-fraits  of  a  resurrec- 
tion to  an  immortal  life;  ana  the 
narratives  of  the  Evangelists  mei-ely 
respect  the  disclosures  of  the  great 
event.  Their  close  adherence  to 
what  alone  was  knoirn  is  A'ery 
strikine."  "  The  writers  of  the 
Kew  Testament,"  says  Olshausen, 
"make  mention  of  what  they  saw 
only,  as  '  that  the  sepulchre  was 
already  empty.'  The  creative  en- 
ergies operated  in  silence  and  unob- 
servedly.  and  wove  for  the  sublime 
person 'of  the  Lord,  as  it  were,  a 


raiment  of  celestial  light,  worthy  of 
investing  the  king  of  the  worlcl  of 
light.  Even  so,  no  human  eye,  at 
that  moment  when  the  energies  of 
life  flowed  into  it,  beheld  how  the 
body  of  the  Holy  One  arose." 
"  The  resurrection '  was  the  great 
act  which  the  Apostles  published, 
and  that  peculiarlv  and  alone." 

2.  And,  behold,  there 
was  a  great  earthquake]  "  A 
shaldiuj  or  cummotion  of  any  kind; 
probably  the  word  means  no  more 
than  the  confusion  caused  among 
the  guards  by  the  angel's  appear- 
ance; all  this  had  taken  place  be- 
fore the  women  reached  the  sepul- 
chre." Adam  Clarke.  for 
the  angel  of  the  Lord]  an  angel 
of  the  Lord.  "  Like  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Lord's  life  upon  earth, 
this  beginning  of  his  glorified  life 
was  also  adorned  with  kindred  an- 
gel A-isions."  3.  his  counte- 
nance] his  form  or  appearance  was 
like  liyhtning.   The  commotion,  what- 


MATTHEW    XXVIII. 


527 


4  white  as  snow.     And  for  fear  of  him  the  keepers  did  shake, 

5  and  became  as  dead  men.  And  the  angel  answered  and  said 
unto  the  women,  Fear  not  ye ;  for  I  know  that  ye  seek  Jesus, 

6  which  was  crucified.     He  is  not  here ;  for  he  is  risen,  as  he 

7  said.  Come,  see  the  place  where  the  Lord  lay.  And  go 
quickly,  and  tell  his  disciples  that  he  is  risen  from  the  dead ; 
and,  behold,  he  goeth  before  you  into  Galilee  ;  there  shall  ye 
see  him  :  lo,  I  have  told  you.  And  they  departed  quickly  from 
the  sepulchre,  with  fear  and  great  joy,  and  did  run  to  bring  his 

9  disciples  word.  And  as  they  went  to  tell  his  disciples,  behold, 
Jesus  met  them,  saying,  All  hail !     And  they  came  and  held 


ever  it  may  have  been,  and  the 
opening  of  the  tomb  by  rolling 
back  the  stone  from  the  door,  must 
have  occurred  before  the  women 
reached  the  place.  The  manifesta- 
tion of  the  angel  is  probably  de- 
scribed as  it  appeared  to  them  in 
dazzling  whiteness  and  splendor. 
Whether  the  angel  appeared  to  their 
bodily  eyes,  or  only  to  their  spiritu- 
al perceptions,  is  a  speculative  ques- 
tion which  hardly  falls  within  the 
province  of  a  Avork  like  this.  The 
reader  Avho  may  be  curious  in  such 
matters  will  find  it  ably  discussed 
m  "  Foregleams  of  Immortalitv,"  by 
the  Rev.  E.  H.  Sears.  "All  the 
difficulties,  or  seeming  discrepan- 
cies," it  is  there  said,  (p.  191,)  "in 
the  four  narratives,,  have  grown  out 
of  the  most  absurd  assumption  that 
the  angels  appeared  in  bodies  like 
ours,  and  to  the  mortal  senses. 
The  variations  are  just  what  they 
would  be  to  the  variant  perceptions 
of  the  half-opened  spiritual  vision. 
John  and  Peter  saAv  nothing,  some 
of  the  Avomen  probably  saw  noth- 
ing, and  doubtless  none  of  them 
saw  all.  We  do  not  imagine  that 
the  divine  messengers  had  been  ab- 
sent from  any  part  of  that  scene  of 
sorrow  and  dismay  on  Friday  after- 
tenioon,  as  they  certainly  a\  ere  not 
absent  from  Gethsemane  the  night 
before.  True,  the  Roman  soldiers 
might  not  know  it  till  the  gleaming 
terrors  dispersed  them;  and  the 
women  saw  but  one  or  two  among 
the  divine  powers  that  engirded  and 
guarded  to  its  sure  accomplishment 
the  central  fact  in  the  world's  his- 


tory, and  heralded  the  victory  of 
the  Son  of  God  over  death  and  the 
grave."  It  is  well  to  have  the  pic- 
ture of  these  scenes  distinctly  be- 
fore us.  We  have  no  doubt  of  the 
fact  that  angels  were  then  seen ;  but 
the  precise  mode  of  the  angelic 
manifestation,  whether  by  an  im- 
pression on  the  bodily  senses  or  a 
quickening  of  the  spiritual  percep- 
tions, is  not  clearly  revealed.  The 
effect  produced  on  the  soldiers  who 
were  guarding  the  sepulchre  must, 
Ave  think,  have  been  through  the 
bodily  senses.  7.  and, 

behold,  he  goeth  before  you 
into  GalileeJ  This  Avas  fore- 
told by  Jesus  (Matt.  xxvi.  32) 
in  almost  exactly  the  AA'ords  here 
used.  The  object  in  going  into  Gal- 
ilee may  have  been  to  secure  retire- 
ment, and  also  that  Jesus  might 
show  himself  to  the  more  numei-ous 
body  of  his  disciples  Avho  resided 
there.  But  Avhile  that  Avas  to  be 
the  scene  of  his  most  important 
intervicAA's  Avith  the  Apostles  after 
his  resurrection,  he  may  haA'e 
shoAvn  himself  to  them  'first  in 
Jerusalem,  that  they  might  thus 
be  led  so  far  to  dismiss  their  doubts 
as  to  go  and  meet  him  Avith  the 
larger  company  of  his  folIoAvers  at 
the  appointed  place  in  Galilee. 

8.  with  fear  and  great 
joy]  "Rejoice  Avith  trembling." 
(Ps.  ii.  11.)  The  tAVO  emotions  in 
the  proportions  here  indicated  may 
be  united.  It  is  one  of  those  touches 
of  nature  Avhich  help  to  bring  the 
whole  scene  before  us.  9. 

And  they  came  aud  held  him 


528 


MATTHKW    XX VI IT. 


him.  by  the  feet,  and  worshipped  him.     Then  said  Jesiis  unto  itf 
them,  Be  not  afraid :    go,  tell  my  bi-ethren   that  they  go  into 
Galilee,  and  there  shall  they  see  me. 

Now  when  they  were  going,  behold,  some  of  the  watch  came  ii 
into  the  city,  and  showed  unto  the  chief  priests  all  the  things 
that  were  done.     And  .when  they  were  assembled  with  the  12 
elders,  and  had  taken  counsel,  they  gave  large  money  unto 
the   soldiers,   saying,    Say   ye,  His   disciples   came   by  night,  13 
and  stole  him  away,  while  we  slept.      And  if  this  come  to  14 


by  the  feet,  and  worshi 
him]  A  not  unusual  mark  of  rev- 
erence in  the  East  to  persons  of  su- 
perior dignity.  With  what  body 
Christ  rose,  is  a  question  which  it 
is  more  difficult  than  profitable  to 
discuss.  The  body  which  was  laid 
in  the  tomb  had  risen.  But  what 
changes  it  had  undergone  is  nowhere 
intimated.  From  the  fact  that  the 
women  clung  to  his  feet,  that 
Thomas  was  asked  to  thrust  his 
hand  into  his  side  (John  xx.  27), 
and  that  he  asked  the  disciples  to 
handle  him  and  see,  "  for  a  spirit 
hath  not  flesh  and  bones  as  you  see 
me  have  "  (Luke  xxiv.  39),  we  can- 
not well  escape  the  conviction  that 
he  rose  in  a  body  which  acted  on 
those  he  met,  as  other  bodies  do, 
through  the  physical  organs  of 
sense.  On  the  other  hand,  his  not 
being  recognized  by  the  two  disci- 
ples with  whom  he  conversed  on 
the  way  to  Emmaus  would  seem  to 
show  that  he  had  then  undergone 
some  remarkable  change  in  his  per- 
sonal appearance;  and  his  disap- 
pearance from  them  the  moment 
he  was  known  (Luke  xxiv.  31), 
and  his  appearance  in  the  midst  of 
the  Apostles  more  than  once  while 
they  were  assembled  with  closed 
doors  (John  xx.  19,  26),  seem  to 
imply  a  facility  of  movement  of 
which  the  Gospels  furnish  no  pre- 
vious instances,  unless  perhaps  in 
the  account  of  his  walking  upon 
water.  We  cannot  tell  when  his 
body  became  spiritual  and  immortal. 
Olsfiausen  supposes  that  "  the  pro- 
cess of  glorification  went  on  during 
the  forty  days  after  the  resurrec- 
tion, and  was  not  thoroughly  per- 


fected until  the  period  of  his  ascen- 
sion to  heaven."  It  becomes  us  to 
be  diflSdent  in  regard  to  any  spe- 
cific views  that  we  may  entertain 
in  this  matter.  It  is  enough  for  us 
to  know  Christ  did  rise  from  the 
dead,  whatever  may  have  been  the 
changes  which  his  body  underwent 
in  death,  and  before  the  ascension. 
12.  And  when  they 
Avere  assembled  with  the  el- 
ders, and  had  taken  counsel] 
Here  was  a  meeting,  a  hasty  and 
probably  an  informal  one,  of  the 
Jewish  Sanhedrim.  It  may  seem 
strange  that  the  soldiers  should 
have  gone  first  to  the  priests,  rather 
than  to  their  own  superior  officers. 
But  it  is  plain,  from  !Matt.  xxvii.  64, 
65,  that  the  guard  of  soldiers  had 
not  only  been  granted  at  the  request 
of  the 'priests  and  Pharisees,  but 
had  been  placed  under  their  charge. 
"  Ye  have  a  guard,"  [or  watch,] 
said  Pilate;  "  go,  make  it  as  sure  as 
ye  know  how."  It  would  therefore 
be  proper  and  natui-al  for  them  to 
make  their  report  in  the  first  in- 
stance to  their  immediate  employ- 
ers. 13.  Say  ye.  His 
disciples  came  by  night,  and 
stole  him  away,  Avhile  Ave 
slept]  This  whole  incident,  it  is 
said,  is  unhistorical  and  improbable. 
But  the  ablest  scholars  cannot  trans- 
fer themselves  to  Jerusalem,  as  it 
was  during  those  three  days,  with 
such  a  minute  knowledge  of  the  pre- 
vailing customs,  and  all  the  special 
interests  then  acting,  as  to  be  able  to 
say  precisely  what  would  or  what 
would  not  be  histoi-ical  in  a  lit- 
tle incidental  occurrence  like  this. 
Even  in  au  army  imder  the  most 


MATTHKW    XXVJII. 


529 


■■Tie   governor's  ears,  we   will  persuade  him,  and  secure   you. 
So  they  took  the  money,  and  did  as  they  were  taught.     And 


rigid  discipline,  directly  before  an 
enemy,  there  are  constantly  coming 
up  little  exceptional  cases,  which 
seem  inconsistent  with  the  stately 
march  of  history,  but  of  Avhich  no 
man  after  the  lapse  of  two  thousand 
years  can  know  enough  of  the  at- 
tendant cii'cumstances  to  pronounce 
them  unhistorical  or  improbable. 
It  would  be  inconsistent,  it  is  said, 
with  the  dignity  of  the  Sanhedrim, 
to  make  such  a  bargain  as  this  with 
the  Eoman  soldiers.  But  the  his- 
tory of  the  world  shows  plainly 
enough,  that  where  political  or  re- 
ligious bigotiy  has  an  important 
end  to  gain,  it  is  not  accustomed  to 
stand  much  on  its  dignity  in  the 
means  which  it  uses.  They  who  in 
their  pride  assume  the  loftiest  airs, 
and  claim  for  themselves  the  great- 
est show  of  respect,  are  often  the 
very  persons  who  stoo"p  to  the 
meanest  and  most  dishonorable 
ai-ts.  But  then,  how  could  they 
know  that  Jesus  had  predicted  that 
he  should  rise  from  the  dead  on  the 
third  day?  Even  his  own  disciples 
did  not  understand  him ;  how  then 
could  they,  his  enemies  ?  There  is 
nothing  in  the  world  so  suspicious 
as  the  malignant  spirit  of  such  men, 
when  confronted  with  an  ingen- 
uous and  powerful  mind,  that  sees 
through  and  exposes  their  subter- 
fuges and  pretensions.  Having  no 
honesty  of  their  own,  they  cannot 
conceive  of  such  a  thing  as  an  hon- 
est purpose  in  those  who  stand  in 
their  way.  They  disti-ust  them  at 
every  turn.  They  subject  their 
acts  and  Avords  to  eveiy  unfavora- 
ble construction  that  is  possible. 
They  see  a  plot  or  an  intrigue  in 
the  simplest  declaration.  What 
wonder,  then,  if  the  chief  priests 
should  have  heard  the  distinct 
and  reiterated  declarations  of  our 
Saviour  respecting  his  death  and 
resurrection  on  the  third  day  ?  The 
disciples  could  not  understand  the 
words  of  their  Master,  but  they 
nnist  have  repeated  them  again  and 
again,  Avith  strange  perplexity  of 
heart.  And  Avhat  more  natural 
45 


than  that  the  JeAvish  leaders,  look- 
ing CA'erywhere  for  a  plot,  and 
never  quite  secure  of  ha\'ing  ac- 
complished their  guilty  purpose, 
even  in  the  death  of  their  victim, 
should,  in  calling  to  mind  this  dec- 
laration, apprehend  and  provide 
against  some  such  design  as  that 
Avhich  is  recorded  at  the  close  of 
the  previous  chapter?  And  Avhen 
their  precautions,  as  the  most  sub- 
tle devices  of  such  men  often  do, 
had  failed,  and  turned  against  them- 
seh'es,  Avhat  more  natural  than  for 
them  to  adopt  the  only  expedient 
then  possible,  and  bribe' the  soldiers 
to  misrepresent  the  facts?  But 
then,  it  is  asked,  how  would  the 
soldiers  dare  to  confess  that  they 
had  fallen  asleep  on  their  Avatch'? 
Would  it  not  expose  them  to  the 
severest  punishment  for  a  serious 
violation  of  the  rules  of  military 
discipline?  In  reply  to  this,  it  may- 
be said,  that  their  employers  —  the 
very  men  to  Avhom  they  Avere  di- 
rectly accountable  for  any  remiss- 
ness in  their  Avatch,  and  Avho  alone 
AA'Ould  haA'e  an  opportunity  to  com- 
plain of  them  —  Avere  the  men  avIio 
proposed  the  bargain  Avith  them, 
whose  interest  it  Avas  that  no  seri- 
ous accusation  should  be  brought 
against  them,  and  Avho  promised"  to 
interfere  in  their  behalf  if  by  any 
chance  the  report  of  their  remiss- 
ness in  duty  should  reach  the  ears 
of  the  go\-ernor.  <'  To  affirm,"  says 
Davidson,  (Introduction  to  the  NeAV 
Testament,  Vol.  I.  pp.  82,  83,)  "  that 
the  falsehood  could  not  have  es- 
caped Pilate,  is  to  assume  that  he 
took  more  interest  in  the  matt(.'r 
than  his  Avhole  character  justifies. 
All  his  anxiety  must  have  coin- 
cided Avith  the  measures  already 
taken  against  the  person  of  Christ, 
in  AA-hich  he  had  reluctantly  in- 
A'oh^ed  himself.  And  as  the  'story 
told  him  by  the  chief  priests  and 
scribes  must  have  been  more  Avel- 
come  than  the  real  accomit  of  the 
case  Avould  have  been,  he  naturally 
belicA^ed  it,  and  took  no  further 
trouble.      Had  he  heard  the   true 


i;jO 


MATTHKW    XXVIII. 


this  saying  is  commonly  reported  among  the  Jews  until  this 
day. 


circumstances  attendant  on  Jesns's 
rising  from  the  dead,  his  fears 
would  haA'e  been  excited,  and  his 
conscience  rendered  doubly  uneasy. 
Such  tidings  must  have  been  disa- 
greeable to  his  agitated  spirit.  But 
when  he  learned  that  the  body  had 
been  stolen  by  the  disciples  at 
night,  his  fears  had  not  to  be  al- 
layed, nor  were  his  superstitious 
feelings  to  be  quieted.  He  felt  that 
the  part  he  had  taken  in  putting 
Christ  to  death  was  unattended  by 
the  guilt  and  impiety  in  which  it 
must  have  presented  itself,  had  Je- 
sus proved  himself  the  Son  of  God 
by  rising  from  the  dead.  Thus  the 
information  given  by  the  Sanhe- 
drim to  Pilate,  false  though  it  was, 
found  a  Avelcome  reception.  Had 
he  even  suspected  its  truth,  he 
would  not  have  instituted  a  process 
of  inquiry.  Whether  Joseph  of 
Arimathea,  Nicodemus,  and  Ga- 
maliel were  present  at  the  meet- 
ing of  the   Sanhedrim,  is  a  point 

that  cannot  be  ascertained 

And  if  they  were  present,  had 
they  the  moral  courage  to  object? 

And  suppose  they  did  protest 

against  the  unworthy  resolution, 
was  it  incumbent  on  the  historian 
to  relate  the  fact?  The  decision  of 
the  majority  is  the  decision  of  a 

council Hence  the  I'ecord  is 

perfectly  consistent  with  the  idea  of 
a  few  persons  refusing  to  sanction 
the  open  dissemination  of  a  false- 
hood." On  the  whole,  this  little 
episode,  instead  of  appearing  unhis- 
torical  and  improbable,  seems  to  us 
to  bear  upon  its  face  the  marks  of 
tmth.  We  agree  entirely  with 
what  Mr.  Norton  has  said  on  this 
matter  in  his  Internal  Evidences  of 
the  Genuineness  of  the  Gospels  (pp. 
233,234):  "The  remark  that  the 
miracles  of  Christ  appear  from  the 
Gospels  to  have  been  unquestioned, 
is  true  of  what  may  be  more  strict- 
ly called  his  miracles.  But  it  is  not 
true  of  the  fact  of  his  resurrection. 
Respecting  this,  St.  Matthew  re- 
lates that  there  was  a  story  in  cir- 
culation that  his  disciples  came  by 


night  and  stole  his  body  away 
while  the  guards  slept.  The  effect 
of  this  single  exception  is  to  con- 
firm the  argument  derived  from  the 
general  characteristics  of  the  Gos- 
pels before  mentioned.  Here  we 
are  told  by  the  Evangelist,  that  the 
most  important  miracle  which  he 
records  was  treated  as  an  impos- 
ture. We  may  fairly  conclude, 
therefore,  that  with  the  same  hon- 
esty, or  the  same  indifference,  or 
the'  same  incapacity  for  deception, 
he  would,  in  some  way,  have  given 
us  infonnation  of  the  fact,  if  the 
tinith  of  the  other  miracles  i*ecorded 
by  him  had  been  called  in  question. 
What  he  here  expressly  states  con- 
firms most  strongly  the  correctness 
of  those  accounts  which  imply  that 
their  trath  was  not  disputed.  But 
in  what  manner  does  he  mention 
this  particular  story  of  the  lanbe- 
lieving  Jews?  He  merely  states  it, 
without  any  attempt  at  refutation, 
without  even  a  formal  denial  of  it, 
without  a  single  remark  respecting 
it.  He  could  not  have  treated  it 
Avith  more  indifference,  or  with 
more  appearance  of  regarding  it  as 
destitute  equally  of  plausibility  and 
of  truth,  and  "wholly  unlikely  to 
obtain  credit.  If  the  story  had 
been  urged  with  any  confidence,  if 
it  had  been  in  fact  believed  by 
those  who  brought  it  forward,  it 
would  hardly  have  been  passed 
over  with  such  slight." 
15.  until  this  day]  i.  e.  until  the 
time  when  tlie  Gospel  was  written. 
There  is  no  decisive  evidence  when 
that  was,  but  the  probabilities,  we 
think,  rather  point  to  a  period  eight 
or  ten  years  after  the  death  of 
Christ,  or  about  A.  D.  42  or  43. 

16.  Then  the  eleven  disci- 
ples went  away  into  Galilee] 
There  is  no  then  in  the  Greek. 
Matthew  not  unfrequently  passes 
from  one  event  to  another,  which 
took  place  at  a  different  period, 
without  one  word  to  indicate  the 
time  that  intervened  between  them. 
The  natural  inference  from  his  lan- 
guage here  would  be  that  the  Apos- 


MATTHEW    XXVIII. 


531 


16  Then   the   eleven   disciples  went  away  into    Galilee,  into 

17  a  mountain,  where  Josus  had  appointed  them.      And  when 


ties  Avent  to  Galilee  immediately 
after  the  resurrection.  But,  in  ac- 
cordance with  his  method  of  speak- 
ing in  other  cases,  we  may  suppose 
a  week  or  a  month  to  have  inter- 
vened between  the  two  events. 
into  a  mountain]  to  ''the  moun- 
tain, where  Jesus  had  appointed." 
the  eleven]  ^latthew  men- 
tions only  the  eleven ;  but  this  does 
not  imply  that  they  were  the  only 
persons  who  met  Jesus  at  the  ap- 
pointed mountain.  The  "  Co,  tell 
my  brethren,''''  of  ver.  10,  indicates  a 
larger  circle  of  disciples.  Probably 
notice  had  been  extensively  given 
among  the  more  intimate  and  trust- 
ed followers  of  Jesus  that  they  should 
meet  him  at  some  particular  place 
which  he  had  specified.  The  defi- 
nite article,  which  our  translators 
omit  before  mountain,  proves  this, 
though  Matthew  does  not  mention 
where  it  was.  This  may  have  been 
the  occasion  when  he  was  seen  of 
"  above  five  hundred  brethren  at 
once."  (1  Cor.  xv.  6.)  17.  but 

some  doubted]  Of  course,  the 
Apostles  Avho  had  met  Jesus  in  Je- 
rusalem more  than  once  since  his 
resuiTection,  could  have  had  no 
doubts.  Either  Matthew  has  trans- 
ferred to  this  meeting  the  doubts 
Avhich  the  Apostles  had  shown  in 
Jerusalem,  or,  as  is  moi-e  probable, 
he  speaks  here  of  doubts  entertained 
by  some  of  the  followers  of  Jesus 
Avho  had  not  met  their  risen  Lord 
before,  and  who  in  the  excitement 
of  a  first  interview  could  hardly 
overcome  their  doubts  so  as  to  be- 
lieve their  own  eyes.  It  was  pre- 
cisely the  same  state  of  mind  Avhich 
the  Apo-tles  had  shown  Avhen  they 
were  first  told  of  the  resurrection, 
and  Avhich  Thomas  persisted  in  till 
he  had  the  opportunity  to  see  and 
examine  for  himself.  It  is  a  strong 
proof  of  the  truthfulness  of  the 
writers,  that  they  should  so  fear- 
lessly insert  this  in  their  narratives, 
without  one  word  of  explanation 
or  apolog\\  Our  view  of  the 
doubters  is  that  given  by  Juven- 
cus,  a  Latin  writer  who  Uved  in  the 


reign  of  Constantine.  "  Nor  yet," 
he  says,  "  did  fidelity  [virtus]  re- 
main equally  in  the  breasts  of  all 
[who  Avere  assembled  to  meet  him 
on  the  Galilajan  mountain];  for  a 
part  of  them  doubted."  Grotius 
and  some  others  render  the  verse, 
"  but  some  had  doubted,"  giving  to 
the  aorist  the  force  of  the  pluper- 
fect. The  interpretation  that  Ave 
have  adopted  is  more  in  accordance 
Avith  the  language  of  Matthew. 

18.  All  power  is  given  unto 
me  in  heaven  and  in  earth] 
Literally  in  lieaA^en  and  on  earth.  All 
power,  or  authority,  indicating  the  in- 
fluence Avhich  it  is  given  him  to  ex- 
ercise over  the  souls  of  men  in  this 
Avorld  and  the  Avorld  to  come.  In 
Col.  i.  11,  St.  Paul  says,  that  ye, 
"  strengthened  vnth  all  j^ower,''''  ^c. 
But  Christ's  authority  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  earth,  but  diffuses  itself 
througli  earth  and  heaA^en.  See  Eph. 
i.  19-23;  Col.  i.  12-18;  1  Pet.  iii. 
22.  We  suppose  that  St.  Paul  (Rom. 
xiv.  9)  explains  Avhat  is  meant  by 
the  expression  on  earth  and  in  heav- 
en; "For  to  this  end  Christ  both 
died,  and  rose,  and  revived,  that  he 
might  be  Lord  both  of  the  dead  and 
living.''''  The  living,  and  the  dead 
who  liA'e  in  a  yet  higher  sense, 
make  one  great  community  of  souls, 
over  Avhora  God  has  given' to  Christ 
all  authority  or  poAver  on  earth  and 
in  heaven.  "  Wherefore  God  also 
hath  highly  exalted  him,  and  given 
him  a  name  Avhich  is  above  every 
name,  that  at  [literally  hi]  the 
name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should 
bow  of  those  in  heaven,  and  those 
in  earth,  and  those  under  the  earth; 
and  that  every  tongue  should  con- 
fess that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to 
the  glory  of  God  the  Father." 
(Phil.  ii.  9-11.)  It  AviU  be  ob- 
served, that  CA-ery  one  of  these  pas- 
sages which  unite  Avith  that  before 
us  in  ascribing  to  Jesus  such  au- 
thority, agrees  also  Avith  his  asser- 
tion here,  and  Matt.  xi.  27,  in  de- 
claring that  hoAveA^er  A'ast  his  poAvet 
may  be,  it  is  all  given  to  him  by  the 
Father.    It  is  a  derived,  and  not  an 


532 


MATTHEW    XXVIII. 


they  saw  him,  they  worshipped  him ;  but  some  doubted.     And  is 
Jesus  came  and  spake  unto  them,  saying.  All  power  is  given 


original  authority.  We  must  be 
careful  in  oui-  dogmatic  theology 
lest  we  forcibly  inject  a«r  ideas  into 
our  Saviour's  language,  and,  by  in- 
corporating tliem  into  his  instnic- 
tions,  give  his  words  a  meaning 
■wholly  foreign  to  his  intention.  AU 
aitthority  is  given  to  me  in  heaven  and 
on  earth.  "Was  there  ever  a  man 
that  dared  put  himself  on  the  world 
in  such  pretensions  V  —  as  if  all  light 
was  in  liim,  as  if  to  follow  him,  and 
be  worthy  of  him,  was  to  be  the  con- 
clusive or  chief  excellence  of  man- 
kind !  But  no  one  is  oftended  with 
Jesus  on  this  account,  and,  what  is 
a  sure  test  of  his  success,  it  is  re- 
markable that,  of  all  the  readers  of 
the  Gospel,  it  probably  never  even 
occurs  to  one  in  a  hundred  thou- 
sand, to  blame  his  conceit,  or  the 
egregious  vanity  of  his  pretensions. 

Come  now,  all  ye  that  tell  us 

in  your  wisdom  of  the  mere  natural 
humanity  of  Jesus,  and  help  us  to 
find  how  it  is,  that  he  is  only  a  nat- 
ural development  of  the  human; 
select  your  best  and  wisest  charac- 
ter; take  the  range,  if  you  will, 
of  all  the  great  philosophers  and 
saints,  and  choose  out  one  that  is 
most  competent;  or  if,  perchance, 
some  one  of  you  may  imagine  that 
he  is  himself  about  on  a  level  Avith 
Jesus  (as  we  hear  that  some  of  you 
do),  let  him  come  forward  in  "this 
trial  and  say,  '  Follow  me,'  '  Be 
worthy  of  me,'  *  I  am  the  light  of 
the  world,'  '  Ye  are  from  beneath, 
I  am  from  above,'  '  Behold  a  gi-eat- 
er  than  Solomon  is  here ; '  take  on 
all  these  transcendent  assumptions, 
and  see  how  soon  your  gloiy  will 
be  sifted  out  of  you  by  the  de- 
tective gaze,  and  darkened  by  the 

contempt   of  mankind ! Do 

you  not  tell  us  that  you  can  say  as 

divine  things  as  he? Are  you 

not  in  the  front  rank  of  huihan 
developments?  Do  you  not  rejoice 
in  the  power  to  rectify  many  mis- 
takes and  errors  in  the  words  of 
Jesus?  Give  us  then  this  one  ex- 
periment, and  see  if  it  does  not 
prove  to  you  a  truth  that  is  of  some 


consequence;  viz.  that  you  are  a 
man,  and  that  Jesus  Christ  is  — 
more."  Bushnell,  "  Nature  and 
the  Supernatural,"  pp.  289-292. 

19.  Go  ye,  therefore,  and 
teach  all  nations]  Tkerefure 
does  not  belong  to  the  text.  Teach  ; 
the  original  word  means  make  dis- 
ciples.,  and  it  is  unfortunate  that  it 
was  not  so  translated  in  our  com- 
mon version.  "  Go  ye  and  make 
disciples  of  all  nations,  baptizing 
them  into  the  name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  teaching  them  to  ob- 
serve all  things  whatsoever  I  have 
commanded  you."  That  is,  they 
are  to  make  all  men  disciples,  bap- 
tizing them  as  the  initiatory  rite, 
and  teaching  them  to  observe  aU. 
things  whatsoever  that  Christ  had 
commanded  tliem.  baptizing 
them  in  the  name  of  the  Fa- 
ther, and  of  the  Son,  and  of 
the  Holy  Ghost]  "  After  all  that 
has  been  written,"  saj'^s  Davidson, 
(Introduction  ■  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment, I.  93,  94,)  "it  is  exceedingly 
difficult  to  settle  the  precise  mean- 
ing of  the  expression  to  baptize  into 
the  name  of  the  Father,  ^-c.  Per- 
haps De  Wette  assigns  it  too  much 
meaning,  when  it  is  made  to  in- 
volve an  express  obligation  to  re- 
ceive the  doctrine  of  a  Triiine  God 
as  a  direct  object  of  faith.  The 
primary  idea  of  it,  as  far  as  Ave  can 
gather 'from  similar  phrases  in  the 
New  Testament,  seems  to  be  this, 
that  the  person  baptized  is  sup- 
posed to  adopt  the  system  of  relig- 
ion in  which  the  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost  occupy  the  pre-eminent 
position,  —  to  corne  into  a  state  of 
subordination  to  the  laws  of  Chris- 
tianity  Those  Avho  submit- 
ted to  baptism  virtually  professed, 
by  their  desire  for  initiation  into  a 
Christian  church,  to  adopt  the  re- 
ligious system,  and  to  be  subject  to 
the  laws'  of  the  Son  of  God.  This 
is  probably  all  that  the  Apostles  and 
their  companions  inculcated  on  the 
baptized,  or  that  they  would  have 
required  from  them  had  they  rea.^oa 


MATTHEW   XXVIII. 


533 


19  unto  me  in   heaven   and   in  earth.      Go  ye,  therefore,  and 
teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 


to  think  that  any  desiring  to  be 
admitted  within  the  pale  of  Christi- 
anity were  not  proper  subjects  of 
baptism."  It  certainly  could  not 
have  been  without  design  that  our 
Saviour  left  this  foi-m  of  introduc- 
tion into  his  Church  with  so  wide  a 
margin  for  differences  of  individual 
thought  and  belief.  If  he  had 
wished  to  establish  the  doctrine  of 
a  Trinity  of  three  equal  persons  in 
the  Godhead  as  a  fundamental  and 
essential  article  of  faith,  he  could 
easily  have  so  expressed  it  in  this 
formula  as  to  put  his  view  of  the 
matter  beyond  all  possibility  of 
doubt  He  would  have  only  to  say, 
"  baptizing  them  into  the  name  of 
God  the  Father,  of  God  the  Son, 
and  of  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  three 
equal  persons,  and  one  God."  But 
if  we  shrink,  as  we  do  almost  with 
a  shudder,  from  putting  these  words 
into  his  mouth,  or  adding  them  to 
those  which  he  has  spoken,  why 
should  we  not  also  shrink  with  equal 
earnestness  from  imposing  upon  his 
words  a  meaning  which  he  has 
nowhere  expi-essly  authorized,  and, 
contrary  to  his  example,  insisting 
on  that'as  an  essential  condition  of 
Christian  fellowship !  Why  not  be 
content  to  let  the  terms  of  admis- 
sion to  his  Church  stand  as  he  and 
his  Apostles  left  them?  It  will 
not  do  to  narrow  down  a  great 
central  statement  like  this  into 
an  expression  of  any  one  form  of 
doctrine  which  man  has  been  able 
to  work  out  of  his  owti  brain.  It 
does  not  follow  that,  if  any  one  view 
of  the  Divine  nature  is  false,  the  op- 
posite view  is  therefore  true,  and  the 
one  which  our  Saviour  meant  to 
teach  here.  No  human  mind  is 
able  to  exhaust  his  meaning.  The 
more  minutely  we  endeavor  to  ex- 
plore and  explain  the  nature  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  the  further  we  shall  be, 
in  all  probability,  from  the  truth. 
We  must  beware  of  allowing  any 
human  standard  of  opinions  to 
measure  its  capacity  or  extent. 
"  We  are  all  of  us,  old  and  young," 
45* 


says  Stanley  in  his  "  Canterbury 
Sermons,"  (pp.  111-114,)  "beset 
more  or  less  by  the  sophistries,  the 
systems,  the  schools,  the  parties, 
which  time  and  circumstance,  which 
past  ages  and  our  own  age,  have 
cast  up  around  us  and  beside  us, 
before  us  and  behind  us.  We  are 
involved  in  their  meshes,  we  walk  in 
the  grooves  which  they  have  made 
for  us Yet  stilf  there  is  en- 
couragement and  consolation  in  the 
thought,  that  none  of  these  things  of 
themselves  constitute  the  whole,  or 
the  essence  of  Christianity;  that  in 
this  respect  our  Lord  is  stiU  the  pat- 
tern of  his  Church There  is 

a  true  middle  way  of  religion,  which 
not  from  weakness,  not  from  indo- 
lence, not  from  halting  between  two 
opinions,  but  from  sincere  love  of 
Christ,  and  from  desire  to  conform 
ourselves  to  his  image,  we  may 
humbly  desire  to  walk.  .  .  .  .*  No 
one  of  us  can  embrace  at  a  glance 

the  whole  of  Christian  truth 

It  is  both  a  confirmation  and  illus- 
tration of  this  character  of  Evan- 
gelical doctrine,  that,  if  we  look 
into  some  of  the  earthly  representa- 
tions of  it  which  have  met  with 
most  universal  acceptance,  they 
also  share  in  this  freedom  from  the 
bonds  in  which  the  world  is  anxious 
to  confine  them Not  be- 
cause their  genius  is  irreligious,  not 
because  it  is  weak  and  faltering. 
No  ;  but  because  it  transcends  the 
limits  of  our  ordinary  thoughts,  be- 
cause it  approaches  by  another  way 
to  something  like  the  loftiness  of 
Him,  whose  image  and  superscrip- 
tion it  bears."  As  we  stand  before 
a  great  and  comprehensive  saying 
of  our  Lord,  like  the  baptismal 
words,  we  must  remember  this,  and 
not  attempt  to  measure  it  by  any 
speculative  opinions  or  dogmatic  as- 
sumptions of  ours.  20.  unto 
the  end  of  the  world]  €<os  rijs 
(TvvTeXeias  rov  ala>vos.  This  form 
of  expression  occurs  five  times  in  the 
Gospel  of  Matthew,  and  nowhere  else 
in  the  New  Testament.  Asimilar  ex- 


534 


MATTHEW    XXVIII. 


and  of  the   Son,  and  of  the  Holy   Ghost ;  teaching  them  to 
observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you.     And, 


pression  is  found,  Heb.  ix.  26 :  "  But 
now  once  in  the  end  of  the  world 
(crui/TfXeiO  Ta>u  dicDvoav,  end  of 
tlie  ages),  hath  he  appeared  to  put 
away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  him- 
self" In  this  instance  the  word 
aicovo)!/,  or  ceons,  in  the  plural,  re- 
fers to  a  series  of  dispensations 
which  had  their  consummation  in 
the  religion  of  Jesus.  In  Matt, 
xxiv.  3,  "  TeU  us  when  these  things 
shall  be,  and  what  shall  be  the 
sign  of  thy  coming,  and  of  the  end 
of  the  world  f  "  the  expression  prob- 
ably has  the  same  meaning.  Jesus 
has  been  announcing  the  destructive 
retribution  that  is  soon  to  fall  upon 
the  Jewish  people  and  their  city. 
The  disciples  ask  when  these  things 
shall  be,  and  what  shall  be  the 
sign  of  his  coming,  and  of  the  end 
of  the  world?  The  language  has 
a  characteristic  of  Hebi-ew  poetry, 
repeating  substantially  the  same 
idea  in  different  words.  Tlie  end 
of  the  world  there  is  the  same  as 
the  end  of  the  Jewish  dispensation, 
though  it  may  also  foreshadow  the 
end  of  life,  i.  e.  of  this  present 
earthly  dispensation  to  each  indi- 
vidual soul.  This  higher  meaning 
of  the  expression  in  its  more  uni- 
versal application  is  plainly,  we 
think,  implied  in  Matt.  xiii.  39,  40 : 
"  The  harvest  is  the  end  of  the 
Avorld  [of  this  present  earthly  dis- 
pensation] ;  and  the  reapers  are  the 
angels.  As  therefore  the  tares  are 
gathered  and  burned  in  the  fire ;  so 
shall  it  be  in  the  end  of  this  worldJ''' 
This  world  or  dispensation  may  pos- 
sibly there,  as  in  chapter  xxiv., 
refer  to  the  Jewish  dispensation, 
and  the  process  by  which  the  good . 
and  bad  among  the  Isi'aelites  should, 
like  wheat  and  tares,  be  separated 
from  one  another  at  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  and  the  overthrow  of 
the  old  religion.  But  the  language, 
taken  in  its  connection  with  what 
goes  before  and  after,  seems  to  us  to 
foreshadow  a  mightier  event,  even 
the  retribution  which  meets  eveiy 
man,  when  to  him  this  age,  1.  e.  the 


dispensation  of  this  mortal  life,  is 
ended.  It  is  the  same  at  xiii.  49. 
So  in  the  passage  before  us,  the  end 
of  the  world  may  possibly  refer  to 
the  great  event  which  Jesus  has 
described  with  such  prophetic  ma- 
jesty of  speech  (Matt,  xxiv.),  and 
which,  while  it  should  destroy  the 
old  dispensation  as  a  national  i*elig- 
ion  in  the  overthrow  of  the  nation 
itself,  was  to  free  the  new  dispensa- 
tion and  its  supporters  from  a  most 
gaUing  t}a•ann3^  In  this  case  he 
promises  his  disciples,  that  during 
their  trials,  until  that  event,  he  will 
every  day  be  personally  present 
with"  them.  It  is  much  more  prob- 
able, however,  that  his  promise  has 
a  more  universal  application,  and  is 
for  all  his  followers,  in  all  ages  of 
the  world,  until  to  each  one  of  them 
in  the  fulness  of  time  the  end  of  the 
world  shall  come.  It  is  impossible 
to  give  in  English  the  pi'ecise  mean- 
ing of  the  expression.  The  word 
translated  xoorld  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  material  universe  which 
we  call  the  70orld,  but  means  an  age 
or  dispensatio7i,  or  condition  of  being. 
E.  g.  the  care  of  the  world  (Matt, 
xiii.  22),  i.  e.  of  this  present  con- 
dition of  being.  The  words  trans- 
lated the  end  mean  rather  the  con- 
summation,  completion,  or  fulfilment. 
So  that  the  end  of  the  world  means, 
as  nearly  as  our  language  can  give 
its  meaning,  the  end  or  fulfilment  of 
a  dispensrttion,  as  in  Heb.  ix.  26,  and 
Matt.  xxiv.  3,  or  the  completion  or 
consummation  of  our  present  con- 
dition of  being,  as  Matt.  xiii.  39.  40, 
49;  and  xxviii.  20.  The  end  of  the 
world,  as  used  by  Matthew,  in  both 
of  its  significations,  is  nearl  v  synony- 
mous with  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
man.  They  both  imply  the  passing 
away  of  an  old,  and  the  coming  of 
a  new  order  of  things,  the  first  of 
which  is  directly  indicated  by  the 
end  of  the  icorld,  and  the  seconcl  by 
the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man.  Both 
the  terms  imply  far  more  than  they 
directly  express.  They  have  done 
so  much  in  the  development  of  the 


MATTHEW    XXVIII. 


535 


lo,  I  am  with  you  ahvay,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world. 
Amen. 


Christian  consciousness,  and  have 
so  bound  themselves  up  in  the  most 
solemn  and  endearing  associations, 
that  no  other  words  can  ever  take 
their  place,  or  have  the  power  which 
they  have  over  the  Christian  heart 
and  imagination.  No  attempt  to 
analyze  such  words,  or  to  define 
them  precisely,  can  ever  be  suc- 
cessful. The  fine  aroma  of  senti- 
ment, Avhich  fills  them  as  a  holy 
incense,  and    makes  them  sacred, 


escapes  in  the  process,  and  leaves 
the  words  which  we  use  in  their 
stead  poor  and  meagre  substitutes. 
"  And,  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world.'''' 
"  For  then  we  shall  be  with  the 
Lord,  as  he  is  even  now  with  us. 
To  him,  therefore,  reader,  commit 
thyself,  and  remain  in  him;  so  will 
it  be  best  for  thee  in  tune  and  in 
eternity."    Bengel. 


INDEX. 


Agonv  of   Gethsemane,  450  -  458, 

468,  469. 
Ambition,  Christian,  359. 
Angels,  152-156,  327,  messengers, 

428,  429. 
Apostles,  195,  196. 
Article,  the  Greek,  342. 

Baptism,  67,  69,  336,  358.    Formula 

of,  515-519,  532,  533. 
Bearing  om'   infirmities,  143  - 146, 

498    499. 
Beatitudes,  the,  87,  88. 
Bethlehem,  48. 
Bethphage,  366, 

Centurion,  169. 

Church,   289-292,   298,    320-326, 

328-330,  359. 
Coincidences,  29,  30,  444,  445,  511, 

512. 
Coming  of  the  Son  of  Man,  186  - 188, 

302  -  304,  346,  347,  399,  400,  407- 

418,  418-422,^34. 
Conception,  miraculous,  35  -  39,  382, 

383,  519. 
Creeds,  15-17,517-519. 
Crucifixion,   483-488,  492.     Place 

of,  494,  495. 

Darkness,  outer,  142,  170. 
Day,  That,  124,  429,  430. 
Death,  Christ's  view  of,  174,  175. 
Death  of  Christ,  199,  292  -  294,  357. 
Demoniacs,  160-168,  172,  212. 
Devil,  the,  76,  77,  82.     See  Satan. 
Discrepancies,  58,  359,  360,  373,  467, 

468,  470,  471,  489,  490,  505-508, 

508-510,  511. 
Double  sense,  79,  140, 144  - 146,  274 

-277,374,376,377,422,423. 

Elijah,  66,  312,  313,  315,  316. 

End  of  the  world,  254,  255,  533  -  535. 


Eternal,  229,  254,  255,  344,  443. 
EVenings,  twcr,  170,  269,  270. 
Existence  of  evil,  240  -  242. 

Faith,  169,  176,  278,  279. 
Fasting,  179. 

First  last  and  last  first,  348  -  354. 
Forgiveness  of  sin,  176,  177. 
Fulfilled,  that  it  might  be,  43,  44, 
252,  366,  367. 

Genealogy  of  Jesus,  34,  35. 

Good,  One  alone,  344. 

Gospels,  to  be  studied  in  their  own 
light,  11-14.  With  preparatiou 
of  heart,  14,  15.  Without  pre- 
conceptions, 15-30. 

Guilt,  national,  cumulative,  394, 
395. 

Hell,  95,  208,  214. 
Herod  Antipas,  260  -  264. 
Herod  the  Great,  46,  47,  55. 
Herodians,  386. 
Holy  Ghost,  the,  68,  69,  80. 
Hypocrites,  282,  295. 

Inspiration,  21,  22,  388. 

Jerusalem,  destruction  of,  407  -  418. 
Jews,  why  .lesus  confined  his  min- 

istiT  to' them,  284. 
John  the  Baptist,  60  -  65,  268. 
Jonah,  296. 
Jordan,  68,  356. 
Judas,  444,  445,  458,  465,  480. 
Judgment,  day  of,  437,  438. 
Just,  righteous  or  justified,  178,  212. 

Kingdom  of  heaven,  or  of  God,  66, 
116,  211,  253,  303,  344,  346,  520- 
526. 

Lake  ef  Galilee,  148,  149. 


538 


INDEX. 


Law  fulfilled  in  Christ's  teachings, 

88-93,  94. 
Leprosy,  136  - 138. 
Lord,  109. 

Marriage,  42,  97,  332  -  335,  342,  343. 
Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus,  224- 

226. 
Matthew's  Gospel,  peculiarities  of, 

32,  34.     When  written,  31,  32. 
Miracles,  35  -  39, 126  - 134,  497,  498, 

500. 
^Murder  of  the  Innocents,  50  -  52. 
Mysteries,  251. 

Name,  112.    My,  197,  S29. 

Oaths,  97. 
Oftend,  210,  327. 
Olives,  Mount  of,  466. 
Omnipresence  of  Jesus,  329,  330. 

Palm  Sunday,  362,  364  -  866. 

Parables,  232.  Why  Jesus  taught 
in,  238-240. 

Parallelism,  122,  123,  397. 

Passover,  464,  465. 

Peter's  denial,  461,  462,  476  -  478. 

Pharisees,  67,  226,  295. 

Portents,  426,  427. 

Prayer,  the  Lord's,  102-107.  Ef- 
ficacy of,  371. 

Predictions  made  by  Jesus,  357,  376, 
401-406,  407 -4i8. 

Priests.  Chief,  356. 

Prophecy,  39-41,  43,  44,  52-55,  82, 
P3,  211,  213,  214,274-277,388- 
390,401-406,467,491. 

Professions,  rlanger  of,  396. 

Providence,  107  - 110,  271. 

'^vxi],  life  or  soul,  115,  191-193, 
199,  301,  302. 


Publicans,  99, 196. 

Regeneration,  the,  346,  347. 

Repent,  66. 

Resun-ection,  379  -  381,  437,  438.   Of 

Jesus,    503-508,    512-515,   526, 

527,  528. 
Retribution,  121,  193,  207,  208,  243, 

244,  331,  340,  341,  373,  374,  386, 

407-422,  432,  434  -  436,  440,  441. 
Rich,  338,  839. 

Sabbath,  Christ's  view  of,  217,  218. 

Sadducees,  67,  295. 

Salvation,  43, 

Sanhedrim,  56. 

Satan,  219  -  222,  245  -  250,  255  -  257, 
293,  442.     See  Devil. 

Scribes,  95, 170,  273. 

Self  renunciation,  340. 

Sign  from  heaven,  288. 

Spirits,  evil,  157  - 168,  230,  442,  456. 

Son  of  David,  the,  34,  41.  Of  God, 
35-39,  297,  319,  461.  Of  Man, 
170,  171,  226,  227,  296,  519,  520. 

Star  in  the  east,  48,  49,  56,  57. 

Supper,  the  Lord's,  445-449,  466. 

Sword,  471-474. 

Synagogue,  83. 

Temptation,  the,  70  -  78,  293. 

Tempting  God,  81. 

Time,  JeAvish  mode  of  reckoning, 

855,861-863. 
Tithes,  398. 

Tomb  of  Jesus,  501,  502,  528-530. 
Transfiguration,  805  -  311,  315,  316. 
Trial  of  Jesus,  479,  480,  481-483. 
Tribute-money,  31§,  386. 
Types,  419  -  422. 

Wise  men,  the,  45  -  50. 


THE   END. 


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